Laven Partners to launch fund of hedge funds

LONDON (Reuters) - Investment management consultancy Laven Partners plans to launch a "best ideas" fund that will invest with a range of boutique hedge fund managers, it said Reuters on Monday.

The portfolio, which is likely to be called the Laven Funds Multi-Strategy fund, will be launched on March 1. It will invest in around 10 hedge funds, most of which will have less than two years' track record.

"Having come across so many good managers, we were asked why we don't do a best ideas fund ... It's based on fund manager talent," Managing Director Jerome de Lavenere Lussan said in an interview.

"It's easier for our clients to go for a multi-strategy fund than invest in one fund."

Funds of hedge funds have remained popular with investors in recent months, despite the onset of the credit crisis, because of the diversification they offer and exposure to strategies able to make money in all market conditions.

De Lavenere Lussan said he hoped to launch the fund with $50 million (26 million pounds) in assets.

Funds that will go into the new portfolio include the Hinde Gold fund; Vermont, a specialist in asset-backed lending; and some currency funds, he said.