HSBC Global Asset Management is to launch a European absolute return fund on 20 April, subject to regulatory approval.

HSBC’s GIF European Alpha Fund will adopt a ‘market neutral’ strategy and invest across developed Europe, primarily through equities and equity swaps.

The investment fund that offers daily liquidity targets equity-level returns with a maximum annualised volatility target of 10 per cent.

It will be managed by a team of four, with Vis Nayar appointed as lead manager.

Nayar is currently the senior fund manager and head of quantitative research for Halbis Capital Management and has held the position since 2007.

Prior to that he worked in the multi-strategy hedge fund team in New York for two years. In a universe of around 700 stocks the team is aiming to spot cheaper stocks using a range of data-led and qualitative-based research methods.

HSBC GIF European Alpha Equity Fund will use short positions to diversify risk, holding about 80 stocks, typically split between 35 long and 45 short.

The fund forms part of HSBC Global Asset Management’s Luxembourg-domiciled Global Investment Funds (GIF) range, which is available for sale in around 35 countries.

Charles Robinson, global head of alternatives distribution, at HSBC Global Asset Management said that the launch further expands of the range of UCITS III funds already on offer.

He added, ‘It appears timely as the market backdrop seems more conducive to our market neutral strategy than the liquidity fuelled environment that defined most of 2009.’

HSBC Global Asset Management has been running the same strategy within its flagship European Alpha Fund, domiciled in the Cayman Islands, since April 2008 – Click here to see its performance.

The minimum investment in the HSBC GIF European Alpha Equity Fund is £3,267 (US $5,000) for the retail share class and the annual management charge is 1.5 per cent.

There is a performance fee of 20 per cent over one Month EURIBOR.