The HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund will seek annual returns of 10%-15% based on about 10% volatility with limited market correlation.
It will be jointly managed by Omar Negyal and Nick Timberlake, who have a combined three decades of investment experience in global emerging market equities.
Negyal, who has more than 10 years’ experience in GEM equities, joined HSBC Global Asset Management in 2009, from hedge fund specialist Lansdowne Partners. Prior to that he spent seven years at F&C where he was a member of the Emerging Markets Asian team.
Timberlake has worked in fund management for 20 years and joined HSBC in 2005, from F&C Asset Management.
The managers will be supported by the London-based HSBC GEM Equities management and trading team, and the HSBC Emerging Markets research network, consisting of more than 40 investment professionals.
Negyal and Timberlake will monitor about 700 stocks, selected from across MSCI Emerging Market nations and certain MSCI Frontier Markets. Together they will run about 35 long and 35 short stock positions, aiming to generate alpha on both sides of the portfolio.
Negyal said: “The HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund is a high-conviction long/short portfolio. The investment process is fundamentally driven by a highly disciplined approach to stock picking, using combined profitability/valuation metrics for both long and short equity selection.”
The fund forms part of HSBC Global Asset Management’s Luxembourg-domiciled Global Investment Funds (GIF) range, which is available in about 35 countries.
The minimum investment is US$5,000 for the retail share class and US$1 million for institutional while the annual management charges are 1.5% and 1% respectively. There is a performance fee of 20% over the fund’s benchmark.