The firm has introduced a Swedish Kroner share class on its Life Settlements Fund, the product for which it is best known in the UK, and appointed a head of European sales.
David Furlong, formerly vice-president of international business development for Ignis Asset Manmagement, will initially focus on Scandinavian markets. He will promote the life settlements product and other EEA absolute return and alternative investments, which include long/short funds and managed futures and CTA strategies.
Furlong said: “The early indications suggest there is growing investor demand in countries like Sweden, Norway and Finland for historically non-correlating alternatives with a strong track record of delivering attractive absolute returns.”
According to EEA, its Guernsey-domiciled Life Settlements Fund has delivered a 9.7% annualised return since launch in 2005 and almost £1bn under management.
The EEA Life Settlements Fund, which was launched in November 2005, now has US$979m under management. Its sterling accumulation class has delivered 8.7% in the past year * and 9.7% annualised since inception.
EEA marketing director Peter Winders said: “The international market for life settlements has grown hugely in the past five years. A significant part of our investor base now comes globally from outside the UK and we think the Scandinavian market will respond well to this asset class.”
