PCE Investors Limited, part of Schneider the UK financial services group, is delighted to announce the upcoming launch of the Celeste European SmallCap fund scheduled for the start of May. The fundwill target a 12-20% annual return with a Sharpe ratio of 2+ over an investment cycle from a long/short portfolio of European SmallCap companies.
The fund�s investment concept relies on fundamental value stock-picking and an innovative and robust risk management strategy developed by the investment advisors, supported by the full Schneider operational platform. The Schneider platform will give Celeste the operational stability typically observed with more established hedge fund businesses, and will enable the advisors to focus their time on portfolio management.
The investment advisors place a great deal of emphasis on capital preservation and will be investing a substantial part of their liquid assets into the fund. Celeste prides itself on having one of the most advanced risk management and hedging methodologies in its peer group, developed by the advisors specifically for the SmallCap asset class. The capital value of the fund is hedged by portfolio insurance to protect against any sudden drops in the European stock markets.
Another key differentiating feature of Celeste is the advisors� extensive expertise of investing in the more vibrant economies of Central and Southern Europe which have better demographics and are expected to continue to structurally grow more rapidly than Western European economies.
The investment advisors, Adam Kolman-Jenkins, CFA, CA, and Alexander Ruhle, MBA speak eight European languages between them and have a combined 20 years of investment experience. Mr. Kolman-Jenkins was formerly portfolio manager at UBS (PDFM) and Invesco. Mr. Ruhle was formerly with equity hedge fund Glenrock Asset Management in New York, with UBS in London and was more recently investment advisor at a family office managing a portfolio of long and short European SmallCaps. Mr Kolman-Jenkins was named “Red Hot European Smaller Companies Fund Manager for 2003� by International Investor Magazine.
Commenting on the Celeste investment strategy, Kolman-Jenkins said: �Our vast and poorly understood investment universe of over 6000 European stocks continually provides us with unique investment opportunities on the long and the short sides, often in niche sectors that are simply not available among largecaps. The enormous breadth of stocks available to us always allows us to construct a portfolio that optimally reflects prevailing market conditions. From a risk management perspective, it also provides excellent diversification.�
He added; �Our style is intrinsically high alpha and low beta and with a core portfolio of 40-60 core long/short positions we seek to cherry pick only the best 1% of our investible universe.�
Part of that confidence comes from their successful track record as SmallCap portfolio managers, as well as on their simulated investment portfolio, showing an annual return in excess of 40% (as at 19/4/2005), a remarkable feat in a year in which hedge funds in general struggled to perform.
Kolman-Jenkins commented: �We are excited by the strong interest shown by many investors who are looking for absolute returns in strategies where there is a clear opportunity for achieving a sustainably positive alpha.�
He added: �Investors realize this is a niche strategy in a space where obtaining capacity is extremely difficult.�
In order not to dilute returns, capacity of the fund will be limited to �250mln, but in the first year, the fund will be capped at �60mln. The fund has secured existing commitments for a sizeable portion of capacity.
Notes to Editors 1. Schneider Group�s hedge fund platform was founded in 2003 to streamline the set-up process for emerging hedge fund managers and provides them with trading access, administration and a regulatory framework.
2. The group�s investment management unit, PCE Investors Limited, is authorized and regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority in the conduct of investment business.
For further information, please contact:
Shabir Chowdhary Head of Sales & Marketing
020 7664 4727 shabir.chowdhary@pceinvestors.com
Kay Rosenberg Public Relations
020 7664 1522 kay.rosenberg@pceinvestors.com
