The Antara India Evergreen Fund recently launched with $10 million of assets. The new hedge fund has an estimated capacity of $500 million.

In its first month of operations, the fund was up 0.3%, compared to a 3% fall in the main Indian index. A full NAV for December is not available yet, but the fund was up approximately 10%, compared to a 3.8% rise in the main Indian index. The fund’s target returns are 20%+ on projected volatility of 12%.

There is a gross exposure maximum of 200%, with typical net exposure of 30-75%. Fees are 2% and 20% with a high water mark.
 
 

Leverage is a maximum of 1.5 times, and there is a liquidity criteria whereby 90% of the fund can be liquidated within ten days, on volumes of not more than 25% of average daily volumes. Redemption is monthly with 45 days notice.

The fund’s investment advisor is Karma Capital, which is registered with and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Karma Capital had previously been a sub-advisor to a multi-strategy India fund managed by Julius Baer. Mauritius-based Antara Asset Management is the investment manager and that in turn is regulated by the FSC in Mauritius.

On the investment committee sits Rushabh Sheth, who used to work at Kotak Securities, a joint venture between Kotak Bank and Goldman Sachs. He then became CIO of one of India’s largest private sector mutual funds, Kotak Mutual Fund, where he was managing $300 million. He is joined by Nikhil Desai, who was formerly head of equities at ABN Amro’s Indian private banking division.

Tejas Dave runs operations at Karma Capital. He had previously worked as head of operations at Ask Raymond James Securities.

The fund is long/short, with a long bias, focusing on large and mid-caps. Sectoral concentrations currently feature autos and auto components with 12.12% of the portfolio, healthcare 17%, IT 15.8%, materials 11.7% and energy 9.5%.

The initial seed capital of $10 million was provided by SHK Asset Management in Hong Kong. Dubai’s Shuaa Capital has provided another $5 million of capital. Shuaa will also become a minority shareholder in Antara Asset Management. Shuaa Capital is one of the leading financial services institutions in the broader GCC region, and the largest investment banking institution in the UAE by market share.

Prime broker is Citi and the fund administrator is Deutsche International Trust Corporation.

Source: Asian Investor