Swiss family office jumps on the Newcits wagon

The Geneva-based family office GWM is reported to have launched its own Newcits fund, making it one of the first wealth management firms to do so.

According to Financial News, the firm's move is a bid to answer growing demand for the fund format. Family offices seeking exposure have traditionally been seen as clients of hedge funds or funds of hedge funds.

The Ucits III hedge fund, 7H Absolute, was launched in June with €50 million under management and is aiming to reach €400 million in assets over three years.

The fund aims to deliver positive absolute returns irrespective of equity market conditions and will invest mainly in equities and equity-related instruments listed on European exchanges, according to a statement from the group.

Financial News quotes GWM as saying the idea of launching its own fund came partly from the high level of hedge fund expertise at the firm, and partly due to demand from an increasingly sophisticated client base looking for low-risk exposure to alternative assets.

The Geneva firm has €2 billion of assets under management and a clientele of  around 30 wealthy families in Europe.