Meadowbrook Capital Management, a hedge fund manager with offices in New York and Chicago, has launched its second fund, the Meadowbrook Beta Neutr

Meadowbrook Capital Management, a hedge fund manager with offices in New York and Chicago, has launched its second fund, the Meadowbrook Beta Neutral Fund. The fund is a long/short all-cap hedge fund managed by Afsin Alp, a member of the firm since its launch in 2004, with nearly 10 years' experience in the investment industry.

Alp, head of investment strategy and joint head of research at Meadowbrook, launched the fund internally 21 months ago to test its strategy, which aims to eliminate systemic risk from the portfolio, and build a track record before marketing it to outside investors.

The strategy outperformed the S&P 500 by 18.9 per cent last year, ending the year with a 22.4 per cent return. Despite the turbulence in the markets, the Meadowbrook Beta Neutral Fund has continued to outperform mainstream equity as well as hedge fund indices and is currently up 1 per cent so far in 12008.

"What differentiates us from other funds are our unique asset allocation model and our proven investment process," Alp says. "Our fund will be a great product for institutions that are looking for uncorrelated returns in these volatile markets."

The fund currently has USD10m in assets under management but is looking to grow eventually to as much as USD1bn, initially targeting high net worth individuals but with a longer-term plan of marketing to institutions. There is a 2 per cent annual management fee and a performance fee of 20 per cent.