Mystery investor makes offer for Bramdean Alternative

Bramdean Alternatives has said that it has received an initial offer for the entire issued share capital of the company.

The fund has had a short but troubled life following its launch in 2007 and has seen assets at launch shrink from £130 million to a current figure of £85.64 million.

Sterling shares in the trust are currently trading at a 50.2% discount to net asset value while results for March showed UK investors lost 3.55% over the month.

Over the full year the sterling share class has lost only 7.17% thanks to the impact of the sterling depreciation. The 21.84% dollar share class loss was a better indicator.

The fund largely retreated from the hedge fund market last summer due to volatility, but this was insufficient to prevent a 10% loss on exposure to Madoff-exposed funds.

Major shareholders are thought to include property tycoon Robert Tchinguez who is believed to hold as much as 30% of the share capital, as well as Bramdean founder Nicola Horlick.

Any offer will presumably be made at a significant discount to the reported net asset value but a significant proportion of shareholders are likely to willingly accept as exit above the current sharp discount.