Former Goldman Sachs bankers Emmanuel Boussard and Emmanuel Gavaudan, who run Boussard & Gavaudan Asset Management, have confirmed plans to list a new multi-strategy hedge fund on Euronext. The new vehicle, Boussard & Gavaudan Holding Ltd, will offer up to 50m shares at €10 a piece, valuing the fund at €500m. Public offerings have begun in The Netherlands on Thursday, with the share sale rolling out across Europe over the coming days.
Money raised will initially go into B&G’s established Sark Fund, with a target annualised target return of more than 10 per cent. Sark was launched in 2003 and since then has achieved an annual return of 8.65 per cent for its Euro share class and 8.88 per cent for its dollar class. But, post flotation, it is expected to boost the leverage of the fund in an attempt to extend the performance.
Interestingly, fees and expenses associated with the listing are being picked up by the parent managers, E&E, so the opening net asset value will be the full amount raised in the flotation. They will invest at least €20m in the listed fund at the outset and the investment managers will see an amount equal to their annual cash bonuses compulsorily invested in the fund. Both the initial investment and the ongoing employee bonus scheme will be subject to an 18-month lock-up.
The flotation is five times the size expected when news of the planned issue first surfaced in late August.