Hot on the heels of Sandler O’Neill Asset Management, who joined Morgan Stanley’s FundLogic Alternatives platform last month, the US banking giant this week announced the additioPARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

Hot on the heels of Sandler O’Neill Asset Management, who joined Morgan Stanley’s FundLogic Alternatives platform last month, the US banking giant this week announced the addition of another US equity l/s specialist: San Francisco-based Ascend Capital LLC. The firm currently manages approximately USD3.2billion in AUM. It will act as investment manager to the Dublin-domiciled MS Ascend UCITS Fund with Morgan Stanley acting as promoter. Morgan Stanley’s Managing Director and Global Head of Fund-linked business, David Armstrong, said that the new fund would be managed in a similar way to the 2010 Morningstar 5 star Ascend Partners Fund II Ltd. According to Barron’s, the fund’s five-year percentage return is 50.95 per cent. “This new addition to our FundLogic Alternatives Platform is further proof of our commitment to provide investors with a wide range of UCITS funds gathering talented investment managers,” commented Armstrong. By rapidly establishing itself as a leading provider of alternative UCITS strategies, Ascend Capital’s Chief Financial Officer Ben Slavet said that Morgan Stanley was “an obvious partner”. “We highly regard its solid operating framework and sound risk management,” said Slavet.