In the aftermath of the financial crisis, demand on the part of institutional investors for more regulated, transparent and liquid collective investment schemes, and continuing uncertainty over the impact of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive on their marketing activities in Europe, have led to increased interest on the part of Asian hedge fund managers in so-called "Newcits" – UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) funds which pursue hedge fund type strategies and invest in derivatives for speculative purposes as opposed for efficient portfolio management. In this article, we consider what establishing a UCITS fund involves and ask whether the potential advantages of managing a product that can be widely distributed to retail investors, as well as being readily acceptable to institutional investors in many jurisdictions, outweigh the higher costs and more stringent compliance requirements associated with establishing and running a UCITS fund.
