The firm initially suspended the vehicle from the Channel Islands Stock Exchange in 2009 because of what its head of marketing Rex Cowely describes as an ‘unprecedented retraction in liquidity’.
“This created significant issues for our flagship Multi-Asset fund of fund range within the property and hedge fund sectors due to high suspensions and closing rates which has not been seen before,” said Cowely.
“Our objective was simple; we had to protect the interests of our shareholders and retain liquidity within our fund range.”
Following the suspension restructuring work was carried out by Channel Islands based law firm, Carey Olsen. Part of the restructuring included creating ‘side pockets’ in which illiquid assets can be isolated from the rest of the fund to enable it to continue performing normally while these assets gradually recover their value.
Eve Kosofsky, lead partner at Carey Olsen, said side pockets were becoming an increasingly popular tool for investment managers seeking to mitigate the effects of the downturn.
Cowley added: “Both the commercial consequences for the fund and the shareholders, together with our organisation’s reputation, benefited positively from this exercise at a time when any such outcome should have been seen as highly unlikely.”
