Pinnacle Alternative Investments, a business and marketing consultant for emerging commodity, futures and currency hedge fund managers, has launched a product designed to allow new manager

Pinnacle Alternative Investments, a business and marketing consultant for emerging commodity, futures and currency hedge fund managers, has launched a product designed to allow new managers to target suitable potential investors from the firm's database.

Pinnacle says it has launched the new product in response to the limitations on the number of managers it can represent as a result of its restrictions based on markets traded, execution style, firm size in terms of assets under management and non-conflicting strategies.

The product consists of a subset of targeted investors from the Pinnacle proprietary investor database and includes family offices, seed/incubation shops and consultants, wealth managers and other investor groups that have traditionally been open to considering allocations specifically to emerging managers.

The product will be made available in two pricing formats that reflect the typically constrained marketing budgets available to most emerging managers. Pinnacle says it will offer guidance on how best to employ the database and from time to time provide strategic introductions on behalf of participating managers.

According to managing director Jacques DeRouen, Pinnacle continues to focus on the emerging manager landscape for talented traders. The firm was recently retained by a traditional Zurich-based private bank that has launched a new currency hedge product, and it continues to receive inquiries from many emerging managers.

'As with any business plan, younger managers need to focus on investor performance expectations, front and back office development and a consistent, well-executed marketing strategy in order to position and brand their trading model effectively in the institutional investor space,' DeRouen says.

'Building assets under management and maintaining consistent trading performance are focal points, of course, for professional portfolio managers. Finally, recognising that there is a cycle to every manager's growth model, as well as an investor allocation cycle, implies that the trader must be disciplined and patient throughout the process.'

Pinnacle says the investor database will be made available only to emerging managers deemed suitable given their trading strategies and styles, professional development and business model profile.