Northern Trust Rolls Out Hedge Offerings

In all, Northern is rolling out three funds adapted from products the company has run for Canadian clients since 1996, according to the WSJ. All three invest in 10 or 15 other hedge funds.

Fund Options

The Northern Trust Diversified Hedge Fund began trading March 1 and is aimed at foundations and endowments. The fund invests in a variety of underlying managers employing arbitrage and event-driven strategies. The fund is targeting returns of 15%, net of fees.

The Northern Trust Arbitrage Fund takes a more conservative tack, targeted at conservative pension-fund investors looking for a low-volatility strategy alternative to fixed-income investments. The fund, which will invest in market-neutral strategies, is targeting returns of about 10% and will be seeded this month with $10 million from the bank’s own pension plan.

A third offering, the Northern Trust Strategic Opportunity Fund, is a more aggressive product, targeted at high-net-worth individuals. The fund, targeted for introduction later this quarter, will invest in long/short equity strategies.

Investors will be able to get daily estimates of performance and summary information on market caps of the hedge-fund-of-fund holdings, industry and sector exposure on Northern Trust’s Web site.

Northern is also said to be looking into a private-equity fund-of-funds program, according to the report.

– Nevin Adams                        editors@plansponsor.com