West palm Beach (HedgeCo.Net)- The London Stock Exchange announced the launch a new market for issuers of specialist funds.

The Specialist Fund Market will work with professional investors such as hedge funds to satisfy the market need which will exist between AIM and the Main Market once the FSA’s new Unitary Regime is introduced.

Martin Graham, Director of Markets at the London Stock Exchange said, “Hedge funds and private equity are an increasingly important asset class that pension funds and other institutional investors want access to in order to diversify their overall portfolios and improve their returns.

“We already offer investors and issuers a choice of routes to market according to the types of investors that issuers wish to target and the risk premiums sought by investors. The introduction of the Specialist Fund Market enhances that choice by creating a separate, clearly-labelled market for alternative assets such as single strategy hedge funds and private equity vehicles.”

The Specialist Fund Market will be open to both UK and international funds, and will be complementary to the FSA’s proposed Unitary Regime for investment entities listing on the Main Market.

Issuers that wish to market funds to a wider audience, including retail investors, will continue to have access to the Main Market, which offers the potential for inclusion in index tracker funds and to AIM, and which has been very successful in attracting investment entities, primarily property funds or other conventional investment funds.

Alex Akesson

Editor
HedgeCo.Net
Email: Alex@hedgeco.net