V2 Capital, a Securities and Exchange Commission-registered investment advisor, has launch the V2 Hedged Equity Fund, an open-ended single manager mutual fund using the V2 Hedged Equity Strategy.
The fund began trading on 31 October 2014 with assets previously invested in V2’s Hedged Equity Strategy Limited Partnership Structure. The launch of the V2 Hedged Equity Fund with USD240 million in assets makes it the largest hedged equity mutual fund launch of the year.
Victor Viner, founder and chief investment officer of V2 Capital, says: “As hedge funds and mutual funds continue to converge, we are excited to be at the forefront of this trend. However, unlike many hedge fund managers that have launched modified versions of their core strategy in a liquid alternative, we are able to offer the identical strategy we have been managing for the past four years because of what and how we trade. Our new ’40 Act fund will implement the same strategy we previously offered in an LP structure, and separately managed accounts, but now our mutual fund investors will benefit from daily liquidity, increased transparency, lower investment minimums, and more regulatory oversight.”
The fund’s objective is to seek to provide long term capital appreciation with reduced volatility. V2, as manager of the fund, will seek to combine a long concentrated portfolio of 30-50 US equities with a short portfolio of customised S&P 500 index options. The equities represent the “best ideas” generated by the firm through fundamental bottoms-up research, while the short option positions are selected based on the portfolio’s net exposure and current volatility environment. The active management of the fund is designed to generate alpha, manage net exposure to a targeted range of 20 to 80 per cent, reduce volatility of returns, and provide some downside protection.
Consistent with other mutual funds, the V2 Hedged Equity Fund will provide daily pricing and daily liquidity. The fund will offer two share classes: an Institutional Class (I class) that will be listed under the ticker VVHIX and an Investor Class (N class) listed under the ticker VVHEX, with minimum initial investment amounts of USD100,000 and USD1,000, respectively.
