Eclectica Asset Management is to launch the CF Eclectica Agricultural Futures Fund in June 2008. The new fund will have a flexible long-only mandate to invest in global agricultural commodities and will be co-managed by Hugh Hendry and Espen Baardsen. The pair have co-managed the macro element of the Eclectica hedge fund for 2½ years, including the investment in agricultural commodities. The Eclectica fund has had a significant weighting in agriculture since it launched in 2002. The new fund will complement the existing Eclectica Agriculture Fund, a long-only global equity fund launched in June 2007 and, the firm says, up 35 per cent since inception and 18 per cent so far this year. Mr Hendry, chief investment officer at Eclectica, said: “We believe that the markets are embracing a historic revaluation of hard asset versus their financial counterparts. We’ve been using the opportunities presented by recent weak markets to add to positions in commodities and commodity-related equities across our fund range. With this new fund we are aiming to capture this generational bull market in agricultural commodities as well as satisfy investor demand for a pure commodities investment vehicle.”