Pictet Asset Management, the institutional division of the Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie, is launching a new water fund, a Cayman-domiciled investment company targeted at sophisticated, qualified investors with a long-term investment horizon. Managed by Hans Peter Portner and Philippe Rohner in a team of five, the fund focuses on high growth companies with a minimum 80 per cent exposure to water, either in revenues or in profits (against 20 per cent for its existing water fund) and will include both public and private equity. Mr Portner, senior fund manager, said: “Investors have largely overlooked the demand characteristics of water. The demand for water continues to increase at the rate of about 2-3 per cent per annum, or twice as fast as the world’s population.” Investors purchase the aptly-named Liquid share class, which offers quarterly liquidity. The fund reserves the right to limit net redemptions/subscriptions to 10 per cent of net asset value at the discretion of the fund’s board. Private equity investments will be held in a separate share class, the Special Situations shares. They will be issued periodically to existing holders of the Liquid shares. Their liquidity will depend on the realisation of the underlying private equity investments. Both share classes are issued in both euros and US dollars. The Liquid share class will generally consist of at least 30 holdings, representing about 60 per cent of total fund assets. The balance will be represented by the Special Situations share class, which will target between 10 and 20 private equity investments. Mr Portner added: “We are targeting companies operating throughout the water cycle: supply and treatment services, technology and packaged water.”