Absolute return demand sees Dalton soft-close funds
Dalton Strategic Partnership has soft-closed its pair of European long/short funds as money continues to flood into absolute return funds.
The $715m (£488m) Melchior European Absolute Return vehicle, as well as the $500m Melchior European Enhanced Absolute Return offering, have been closed to new investors as of this month.
Both products are run by long/short veteran Leonard Charlton, and are favoured holdings for a number of fund of fund managers.
Old Mutual, Henderson and Octopus are among the firms to invest in the products via their multi-manager or multi-asset ranges.
Richard Jones, Dalton’s head of sales, said it was a “prudent” move to soft-close the core offering again – the product was previously closed between 2011 and 2013 – at a time of robust demand.
“The fund has seen strong asset growth throughout 2014 and 2015. We feel it is prudent to make sure that the amount of money that the team is managing doesn’t end up preventing the investment process working to its maximum effect.”
He added the measures taken were a result of the popularity of absolute return strategies at a time of market volatility.
“There seems to be an appetite across continental Europe for investment strategies and products that can deliver a positive absolute return without related markets going up,” he said.
The European Absolute Return fund has returned 5.4 per cent over a three-year period, according to FE Analytics.