Investing February 20, 2004

Equities Blaze the UIT Trail in January

February 20, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Leaning on the back of particularly strong equity inflows, assets poured into unit investment trusts (UIT) in January 2004.
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UITs, investment companies that hold fixed portfolios of selected stocks or bonds, had total deposits of $1.91 billion in January, up 40.4% from the $1.36 billion in December deposits, according to data complied by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Leading the way were equity UITs, which ended January with total deposits of $1.68 billion, up 49.6% from $1.12 billion the month before.  This was followed by taxable debt UITs showing $82.9 million in January assets, up 13.5% from December’s $73 million. Meanwhile, tax-free debt UITs were in the minus column of asset flows in January, down to $142 million, losing 11.3% from the $160 million in December.

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January recorded 64 new trusts issuing shares for the month.  Of that total, 38 were equity trusts, 18 were tax-free bond trusts, and eight were taxable bond trusts.

In terms of maturity, long-term bond trusts having an average weighted maturity of more than 15 years were the most commonly offered in January, with $116.9 million in shareholder deposits.

Products February 19, 2004

RAI, ACL Launch Multi-Manager CTA Portfolio

February 19, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The REFCO Alternative Investments, LLC (RAI) and Abbey Capital Limited (ACL) team has launched a multi-manager futures fund.
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The fund is a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) portfolio that offers access to 11 managers who collectively provide diversification across time frames, countries, markets and styles.   The portfolio combines trend following CTAs with non-trend following CTAs that attempt to minimize correlations and create a more consistent return profile, according to a news release.

The fund opened with more than $40 million from institutional and high net worth investors in the United States, Europe, the Far East and Latin America.

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The offering is a product of a strategic alliance forged between RAI, the alternative asset management division of REFCO Group Ltd., LLC and ACL on November 6, 2003.   ACL is responsible for portfolio construction, manager selection and risk management whereas RAI defines which products should be created. The products are then distributed to the institutional and high net worth marketplace whereby RAI is responsible for investor services.   An independent, third party administrator prices each fund on a daily basis.

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