Survey says Ucits Fund Assets tripled to $90b

(Bloomberg): Ucits funds tripled assets to $90.5 billion last year as managers attracted clients seeking to put money into the more regulated and easier-to-trade alternatives to hedge funds. Firms started 129 funds last year that comply with the European directive known by the acronym for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities, Hedge Fund Intelligence said in a statement today. The funds raised more than $9.5 billion, according to the London-based data provider. Ucits allow clients to withdraw money in as little as a day, place restrictions on leverage and offer investors transparency of holdings that is similar to that of mutual funds.

John Paulson’s Paulson & Co., based in New York and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management Ltd. in London are among hedge funds that started Ucits last year.

“The main driver is regulation,” said Joy Dunbar, editor of Absolute UCITS, a Hedge Fund Intelligence publication. “There’s an expectation that Ucits are safer than hedge funds because there is a certain amount of transparency and liquidity.”

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