Man Group Plans to List Hedge Fund on NYSE

The world’s largest asset manager, Man Group, plans to list a hedge fund on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time, in a ploy to get more money from U.S. investors, according to the Wall Street Journal.A trend is occurring in the industry that has hedge fund managers increasing their assets through closed-end fund vehicles that can be bought by both institutional and individual investors and bypass regulatory restrictions on direct hedge-fund investments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to raise the bar for hedge fund investors, and is proposing that individuals have $2.5 million in investable assets, instead of the current $1 million requirement.

However, individuals are able to buy shares in exchange-traded companies, and a slew of closed-end companies and mutual funds, which individuals can invest in, use hedge fund-like techniques such as leverage and derivatives, to potentially enhance their return.

In September, shares in Man Dual Absolute Return Fund will be offered at $20 each, with a minimum order of 100 shares. Plans for the initial public offering were filed with the SEC last week. 

Man didn’t mention how much money it was looking to raise. Similar funds listed in Europe have raked in as much as $2.15 billion, with most of the money coming from institutional investors.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.