The underlying strategy of the fund has been developed by Man Systematic Strategies, an investment manager within Man, for investors looking to diversify portfolios from standard investments in equities and bonds.
The Man Commodities Fund has been launched with $50m of seed assets and is actively traded – aiming to outperform passive indices while minimising downside risk.
It will have liquid long-only exposure to the Man Systematic Commodity Index, which is based trading in 25 liquid futures contracts in precious metals, energy and agricultural products.
Sandy Rattray, Man Systemic Strategies’ chief investment officer, said: "More investors want to add commodities to their portfolios, but there are relatively few options for them in a Ucits format. Passive investment products like ETFs and index-linked swaps are generally poor at dealing with severe drawdowns and heightened volatility in commodity bear markets, so we think an actively-managed, systemic approach is a better solution."
The investment strategy of the index is led by Scott Kerson, Man Systemic Strategies’ new head of commodities, who has 17 years’ experience in commodities and systemic trading.
Man Group intends to make the fund available to investors in several European countries with a minimum investment of £1,000 for retail investors and £100,000 for institutional investors.
