NewAlpha has announced its 12th seeding agreement, a USD30m investment in the Melchior European Fund managed by the UK's Dalton Strategic Partnership.

NewAlpha has announced its 12th seeding agreement, a USD30m investment in the Melchior European Fund managed by the UK's Dalton Strategic Partnership.

The Melchior European Fund is registered in the Cayman Islands and implements a pan-European, all cap long/short equity strategy. The fund was launched on 2 October 2006 and has now USD70m in assets under management.

In 2008, the fund returned +6.3 per cent with only two down months (January and March) and has achieved +18.4 per cent since inception to end of March 2009, versus roughly -44 per cent for the major European large cap indices.

The fund is managed by a team of four analysts led by Leonard Charlton (pictured), the portfolio manager. Charlton started his career at Goldman Sachs as an equity trader, before joining GLG in 2002 to work with Pierre Lagrange on the European opportunity fund. In 2006, he joined Dalton Strategic Partnership to launch the Melchior European Fund.

Based in London, Dalton Strategic Partnership is an independent investment management firm authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Founded in 2002 by Andrew Dalton and Magnus Spence, it manages a range of hedge funds and long-only specialist equity funds with a focus on achieving absolute returns.

NewAlpha was established in 2003 by the ADI group to support the development of emerging alternative investment managers and to provide access to those managers to institutional investors through private equity style funds of funds.

In November 2008, ADI and OFI Asset Management, an independent investment management group, agreed to merge and combine their various businesses.