AQR picks SG Hiscock & Company as distribution partner

Quantitative investor AQR Capital Management has appointed SG Hiscock & Company (SGH) as its distribution partner.

SGH has begun rolling out the AQR Wholesale Managed Futures Fund to sophisticated investors.

The actively managed fund invests in futures contracts and derivatives across commodities, currencies, fixed income, equities and alternative markets. It seeks to produce attractive risk-adjusted returns while targeting a low long-term average correlation to traditional markets.

AQR managing director and head of Australia and New Zealand Simon Wills said: "AQR offers a wide range of investment strategies, spanning traditional global equity and liquid alternative strategies, and we will actively seek to expand our fund offerings in the coming period. In the meantime, our focus will be on communicating the benefits of managed futures, a diversifying strategy that may help bolster investor portfolios - especially in times of market volatility."

The fund returned 28% p.a. in the last year versus the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill Index's 3.8% p.a.

Over a 10-year period, it made 4.6% p.a. in net returns against the benchmark's 2.1% p.a.

The fund had more than $1 billion in assets under management at the end of February.

Some of the fund's investments include fixed income Eurodollar futures and the Norwegian 2 Yr Interest Rate Swap, as well as commodities futures in coffee, gas and gold.

SG Hiscock head of distribution Anthony Cochran commented the collaboration with AQR will allow SG Hiscock to broaden its offerings to its clients, and to complement the strategies it currently has available to provide a well-rounded offering to clients seeking diversified portfolio construction.

"AQR has a long track-record of applying empirical research to investing in order to better understand what drives markets, which can then be applied to client portfolios," Cochran said.