UK specialist launches Alt Ucits fund

Alternative investments specialist EEA Fund Management has launched a managed futures fund with the aim of offering investors greater diversification during difficult market cycles.

The Dublin-domiciled EEA Diversified Trends fund will be run by the company’s head of trading Darran Goodwin, who will use a trend following strategy.

The newly-launched fund will take long and short positions in equity indices, bonds, currencies and commodities, with futures contracts being used to gain this exposure.

This approach will be underpinned by a systematic model developed by Goodwin and his team, which will dictate asset allocation within the fund.

At the core of the approach is set to be a bias towards commodities markets. Goodwin said will allow it to stand out compared to other CTA/managed futures funds as they tend to have a greater bias towards the financial markets.

Commenting on the launch, Goodwin said: ‘One of the many benefits of CTA/managed futures is their ability to act as a diversifier within a portfolio due to their non-correlation to traditional types of investments.’

‘This allows the investment adviser to lower portfolio volatility and therefore enhance risk adjusted returns over the long-term.’

It will mirror the existing EEA Diversified Program, which was developed by Goodwin and his team and launched in 2006.