Three more Aust funds come to market

Australian alternative investment specialist, Absolute Capital Limited, has launched its three retail alternative investment funds in New Zealand.

The three funds are The Absolute Return Fund, The Equity Long/Short Strategies Fund and The Yield Strategies Fund.

The Yield Strategies Fund is the first of its kind to be available to New Zealand investors and offers a new income product to the market.

According to Absolute Capital’s managing director, Deon Joubert, The Yield Strategy Fund is more diversified than other more traditional income products in the market, such as debentures and mortgage trusts, and offers a higher degree of diversification.

"This fund’s diversification is underpinned by 40 investments across 10 different asset classes and a variety of yield structures," Joubert says.

"The fund accesses income streams from portfolios of bonds, bank loans, mortgages and asset backed securities and depends on some 50,000 individual credit risks, not on directional market performance.

The three funds are replicas of Absolute Capital’s established wholesale funds and each fund listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on 16 September 2002, the first time hedge funds have been listed in Australia.

The listing on the ASX has enabled Absolute Capital to offer investors enhanced levels of liquidity, transparency and portfolio diversification.

Absolute Capital has created Class B units in these funds specifically for New Zealand investors to take into account differing tax laws between New Zealand and Australia.

Absolute Capital head of distribution Josh Goben says the funds have been well accepted by the Australian market and a similar take up from investors in New Zealand is expected.