HedgeCo.net – Combining emerging hedge fund exposure with the experience of seasoned investment professionals, London-based fund-of-early-stage-hedge-funds manager, Hedge Funds Investment ManagementLtd, which is backed by the pioneering Dr. Nick Dhandsa’s family office, will launch the HFIM Multi-Strategy Fund in December 2006. Assets in the fund at launch will include investments from thefamily office.

HFIM Multi-Strategy Fund is the first offering in the HFIM Evolution Funds range of funds. HFIM Evolution Funds plc, the EU domiciled, Irish incorporated fund, with its shares to be listed on the Irish stock exchange, comprises ten funds of emerging hedge funds and absolute return funds. Each fund will provide a different investment approach and have a different return/risk characteristic. HFIM expects to offer the full range of funds over a period of time.

In addition to the multi-strategy fund, the offerings will include six funds of single strategy hedge funds comprising global macro, long/short equity, commodity and managed futures, emerging markets, equity market neutral, and event-driven. There will also be three regional funds capitalising on increasing emerging hedge fund investment in Asian, European and Latin American markets. Each fund will have a dynamic investment approach and invest in up to 25 promising emerging hedge funds.

“The emerging hedge fund sector remains largely overlooked yet offers some outstanding opportunities to invest in new hedge fund investment approaches, strategies, markets and instruments. These can drive HFIM Evolution Funds to outperform,” said HFIM Managing Director, Tushar Patel, who co-founded the firm. “To fully capitalise on such opportunities, HFIM sources, tracks and analyses emerging funds with the potential to outperform their established peers, while operating within HFIM risk control parameters. HFIM will disinvest when a fund matures, underperforms, shows evidence that performance will degrade, or no longer meets HFIM investment guidelines.”

HFIM Evolution Funds are designed to appeal to a broad range of institutional and sophisticated investors who seek diversification and higher risk-adjusted returns that are not highly correlated to traditional equity and bond markets. They should also appeal to existing hedge fund investors seeking diversification from other fund of hedge funds approaches and exposure to returns from the next generation of hedge funds. “It can also provide an ideal approach for some of the larger funds of hedge funds to gain immediate, diverse exposure to emerging hedge fund returns managed by a dedicated team in that space,” added Tushar Patel.

Raminder Panesar, co-founder and Co-Chief Executive added: “The HFIM Evolution Funds have some uniquely attractive features that can provide many of the solutions that institutions and private wealth managers require.”

Dr. Nick Dhandsa, who heads the family office that sold its Associated Nursing Services business to BUPA last year for approximately $600 million, said “HFIM has one of the most interesting and innovative investment approaches that I have come across.” He added “HFIM allocates to attractive emerging funds that can have an edge over established funds by virtue of their being run by young teams who are eager to prove themselves, and have the flexibility to capitalise on new market opportunities and inefficiencies which others may overlook or be unable to exploit.”

Dr. Dhandsa recently accepted the appointment as Chairman of HFIM’s London-based parent company, Alternative Investment Strategies Ltd. “By providing investors with returns from activities undertaken by new managers and new funds, HFIM Evolution Funds are similar to venture capital or private equity funds which seek to capture the returns of emerging companies,” said Dr. Dhandsa. “As HFIM offerings give immediate diversified exposure to emerging managers with the potential to produce results comparable to the small entrepreneurial businesses in which our family office invests, we are delighted to be part of this business from the outset.”

“Between them, HFIM’s two co-founders have more than 15 years’ experience in developing and managing hedge funds and fund of funds businesses,” Dr. Dhandsa said. “As HFIM’s principals have the skills and experience to develop and run a successful specialist investment management company, they save me the time and effort of trawling the industry for the best portfolio of emerging managers.”

For further information, please contact:

Tushar Patel, Investment Management: tpatel@hfim.com;
T: +44 20 7965 4677; F: +44 20 7962 4606
Raminder Panesar, Risk, Finance and Operations: rpanesar@hfim.com;
T: +44 20 7965 4678; F: +44 20 7962 4606

HFIM
2nd Floor
4 Broadgate
London EC2M 2QS
www.hfim.com

HFIM is the trading name of Hedge Funds Investment Management Limited, a UK incorporated company with registered number 03591241 and which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (No. 449528)