Managed Futures Funds

The Australian Financial Review recently (16-17 August edition) highlighted two lesser known managed futures funds offered in Australia that were developed by alumni of AHL which was acquired by Man Investments. The Select Futures Fund has a minimum investment of $A25k and has performed nicely:



though it then lost 8.6% in July. The Macquarie Winton Global Alpha Fund returned 27.2% in the year to June 30 compared to 16.9% for select futures. It lost 4.4% in July. The minimum investment though is $A50k. An advantage the fund has over the Man Funds is it is considered to be an Australian fund for taxation purposes and, therefore, not subject to the FIF regulations. Neither is the Select Futures Fund a FIF. The Man-AHL Diversified Fund has a minimum investment of $A20k while Man's various OM-IP offerings have $5,000 minima. The latter have very limited liquidity while the Winton fund allows daily redemptions and the others are in between in liquidity. Only the OM-IP and Global Alpha funds appear to be marginable through CommSec.

But, interestingly, there is a totally liquid alternative: The Macquarie Winton Global Opportunities Trust which is listed on the ASX. Is this a free lunch? That will be the topic of another post :)