Centurion Fund managers has obtained regulatory approval in Luxembourg for what it said is the first open-ended fund to combine macro and micro longevity life settlement exposure.
The fund, which is aimed at professional investors, is called the Centurion Longevity Fund, and targets an annual return of 6% to 9%, with low volatility and minimal correlation to the stock markets.
Centurion said the target market for the new fund will be European wealth managers, family offices and institutions seeking to invest in EU regulated and authorised products, with an informal target investment pool of $100m.
Centurion explained the fund in the following terms: “At the micro level the Fund gives investors exposure to longevity funds with both physical and synthetic life settlements, based on lives that are individually underwritten.
"At the macro level, the Fund invests in longevity derivative products including longevity notes, swaps and indices where there is no underwriting on the individual lives and the investment returns are based on the longevity experience of a large population, thus giving exposure to literally hundreds of thousands of lives rather than the few hundred that is more typical with micro longevity funds."
More diversification
According to Centurion, investing in both macro and micro longevity products provides investors with more diversification and lower volatility and risk when compared to the more traditional micro longevity funds.
The fund is structured as a Luxembourg registered Sicav and organised as a specialised investment fund to give it pan-European appeal.
It was launched in June 2009 with seed capital while Centurion waited to be given the green light from Luxembourg’s regulators.
David Rawson-Mackenzie, managing director of Centurion, said: “We realised that it would take some time to go through the rigorous due diligence process required by the Luxembourg authorities, particularly as our fund was unique in combining macro and micro longevity, but we now have a European compliant product with all of the transparency and reporting rigour that a Luxembourg SICAV dictates.”
The fund is denominated in EUR, GBP and USD with a minimum investment requirement of €125,000 or the currency equivalent.
