Man Group Plc, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, is for the first time marketing to individual investors in Singapore a fund which uses computer programs to identify trades in futures markets.

Singapore investors can put a minimum of $20,000 in Man AHL Trend, said the London-based manager, which completed its acquisition of GLG Partners Inc. in October. AHL and other managed futures trading programs profited in 2008 as commodities such as crude oil rallied to records, and then collapsed.

 

The fund will provide a new asset class for Singapore investors other than the traditional equities and bonds, said Timothy Peach, head of sales for Southeast Asia at Man Group, said at a briefing in Singapore today.

 

“We don’t expect a huge tsunami of money coming into the fund initially; it is quite different from your typical mutual fund,” Peach said.

 

Man Group is broadening its range of offerings after it agreed in May to buy New York-based GLG for US$1.6 billion ($2.07 billion), creating a company with about US$63 billion in assets, and easing its dependence on Man AHL Diversified Plc, an investment program that accounts for more than half of Man Group’s holdings.

 

The hedge-fund firm said in September it estimated first- half profit to drop by 55% as income from management and performance fees declines. Investors withdrew US$600 million from Man Group in the fiscal second quarter.

 

AHL trades in more than 150 futures markets around the world and seeks to profit from falling and rising market trends. Man AHL Diversified Futures Ltd. increased about 7.6% in the year to the end of August. AHL slumped 16% last year, its first loss, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

AHL manages US$21.9 billion globally, of which 60% are assets from private investors including retail and high-net- worth individuals, Peach said. The remainder are direct investments from sovereign wealth funds, endowments, pension funds and insurance firms, he said.

 

Man Group, which spent three years discussing the fund with Singapore’s regulator, is looking at ways it can market it in Malaysia and other countries in the region, Peach said. The fund conforms with Europe’s Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities, a regulated fund format known as UCITS III.

 

The fund will charge fees equal to 3% of client assets and 20% of investment profits, Peach said.