KARVY LAUNCHES FIRST HEDGE FUND

Karvy Capital, the asset management arm of financial services provider Karvy Group, today launched first hedge fund named 'systematic edge fund'. According to the company, this fund is an open-ended category-III AIF (alternate investment fund), under the AIF guidelines issued by market regulator Sebi. "The systematic edge fund is a multi-strategy absolute-returns hedge fund and targets delivering positive returns across all equity market scenarios. We hope to garner around Rs 100 crore in next two months from HNIs and select institutions," Hrishikesh Parandekar, Chief Executive and Group Head for Broking, Wealth Management and Asset Management, told reporters here. He claimed that the initial response to the new fund from investors has been sound. In May last year, Sebi had issued regulations for AIFs and opened the way for local hedge funds. Before these regulations, while foreign hedge funds were allowed to invest in domestic equities, domestic firms were not permitted to launch such funds. However, after these norms, many domestic asset management companies have applied for launching hedge funds. On its investment strategy, Karvy said the hedge fund will invest in futures and options of equity stocks and indices.