FRANCE - French quantitative fund management company Aequam Capital is in talks with pension funds to develop two funds it launched at the end of last year.

In December, the asset manager launched its first funds, Aequam Diversified and Aequam Currencies, for which the company raised €4m and €3m, respectively, from around 30 investors, including family offices, private banks, wealthy individuals and funds of funds.

The fund manager is now seeking to expand these two facilities and is currently talking to several pension schemes in Europe and further afield.

Arnaud Chrétien, founder, chairman and chief investment officer at Aequam, told IPE: "We have consolidated the first phase of the process, which consisted of launching these two funds.

"We are now entering into the second stage, where we need to have access to a broader range of investors and to develop services that will match pension funds' liabilities."

The Diversified fund is a globally diversified portfolio investing in options on equity indices, interest rates, currencies and commodities, while the Currencies fund invests in G10 currencies and a selection of nine emerging currencies.

Chrétien said: "A focus on innovation and R&D is at the heart of our methodology. Driven by predefined risk constraints, the performance of the funds is both a consequence and a reward for the use of the dynamically allocated risk budget."

Both of the funds aim to provide investors with long-term capital growth and controlled risk using a systematic trading approach and focus on liquid assets.

"Pension funds are always looking for a better allocation in terms of risk," Chrétien said. "Some of them are keen to invest in emerging companies that will offer them the opportunity to diversify their investments.

"As for us, it is a natural and indispensable process to secure investments from pension plans when it comes to expand our activities."

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