Samsung Asset Management said Wednesday it has launched a fund to pool South Korean retail investor’s money into a signature fund by London-based quantitative hedge fund manager Man AHL.

By investing in Man AHL’s TargetRisk fund, the Korean feeder fund is expected to offer capital growth through a long-only exposure, under which the fund manager takes advantage of profit opportunities by betting solely on undervalued assets.

The Korean feeder fund, dubbed Samsung MAN Investment Balance Securities Investment Trust H, has started drawing investors -- mainly with medium risk tolerance -- through Hana Bank and Hana Financial Investment. 

According to Samsung Asset, the funds’ portfolio includes liquid assets such as global stocks, bonds and inflation-linked bonds, as well as derivatives that track a range of underlying assets such as stock benchmark indexes, sovereign bonds and US currency.

Samsung Asset expressed confidence about Man AHL’s ability to maintain stable level of volatility regardless of market conditions.

“The academic-industry collaboration between Man Group and Oxford University gave birth to various quantitative methods that have addressed market risks during each phase of the market cycle,” Samsung Asset said in a statement.

Founded in 1987, Man AHL was managing $35.1 billion assets as of end-March. Man AHL had been fully controlled by Man Group until its initial public offering in 1994.

Samsung Asset has the largest assets under management in Korea. It oversees 278.2 trillion won ($233.1 billion) assets such as equities, derivatives and short-term financing instruments.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)