As part of its increasing interest in developing hedge funds, Gartmore have launched an Asia-Pacific quantitative market-neutral long-short ...

As part of its increasing interest in developing hedge funds, Gartmore have launched an Asia-Pacific quantitative market-neutral long-short equities fund; Japanese equities are specifically excluded. Gartmore has been trialing this strategy for around six months and its success has predicated yesterday’s formal launch with $45 million in seed assets. Minimum investment in the AlphaGen Crucis fund is $100,000 and target returns are 10 per cent net of fees a year. The Crucis fund is being marketed to fund of hedge funds, private banks, family offices and institutional investors. Gartmore plans to launch up to eight more hedge funds this year but have not finalized timing and likely strategies. A core of ten Gartmore employees run the manager’s European quantitative fund, AlphaGen Regulus, and Crucis. Regulus, whose lead manager is Mike Gleason, has seen returns of 2.3 per cent since its 1 November 2004 launch according to the company.