Morgan Stanley Launches Long/Short Hedge Fund of Funds

The company said the new offering features a diversified, institutional-quality portfolio of long/short equity hedge funds for smaller institutional clients.

With the launch of the Global Long/Short Fund, investors gain access to long/short hedge fund managers around the globe in a fund-of-funds structure for a minimum investment of $100,000.

“The Global Long/Short Fund offers investors the potential to capture the upside return of global equity markets while helping to reduce downside exposure,” said Mustafa Jama, Head and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Stanley AIP’s Fund of Hedge Funds team, in a product announcement. “As such, it may serve as an attractive alternative to long only equities investing for those seeking to enhance the risk/reward profile of their equity portfolio.’

The Global Long/Short Fund is intended to be managed for long-term capital appreciation and to have moderate volatility as compared to the equity markets.

The long and short equity strategies in which the Global Long/Short Fund will primarily invest allow the underlying hedge fund managers to use leveraged or short-sale positions to take advantage of perceived inefficiencies across the global capital markets.

The Global Long/Short Fund will invest in approximately 20-25 long/short equity hedge funds. Additionally, unlike most hedge fund products which provide delayed K-1 tax reporting, the Global Long/Short Fund will deliver Form 1099 tax reporting by January 31 of each year, the announcement said.