Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) is launching a series of Ucits hedge fund products through a partnership with US asset managers New Castle.

UBP will act as custodian for the UBAM New Castle Market Neutral US Equity fund as well as marketing it to investors.

Bertrand Bricheux, head of marketing and business development for UBP's alternative investments arm, said the fund built on UBP's existing asset management offering. It will be a sub-fund of the bank's Luxembourg-based SICAV, Union Bancaire Asset Management (UBAM), which has a number of traditional investment funds on its portfolio.

Bricheux said the New Castle fund was the first of a series of hedge fund offerings to be added under the UBAM umbrella.

He said investors were increasingly asking for similar products in the post-2008 economic climate, seeking liquidity and transparency of their investments.

"The rally that we've seen since March doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet," Bricheux told Hedge Funds Review. "For us the timing was right to come up with a strategy that can make money in various economic environments, that's been tested over the last 10 years," he added.

He said there was a "natural search zone" in the US for additional hedge fund managers to join the range, but UBP would also look at single managers based in Europe and the UK.

The New Castle Ucits fund will follow a market neutral long/short strategy run since 1998, which has returned 9.89% on an annualised basis since that time.

Fund manager and New Castle general partner Mark Kurland said it invested in large US and worldwide companies, with no lock-ups, gating or leverage.

"We think over the years we have really honed our skills and have established enough strong goodwill among the companies that we follow that we think that gives us a little bit of an edge over the competition," Kurland said.

Kurland said stock picking and positioning was key to the market neutral fund's success. The fund had shrunk its books "dramatically" in 2008 to produce returns of 2.88%.

He said UBP's support would enable New Castle to attract more European investors. Kurland thought the Ucits fund could have a capacity of at least $1 billion. New Castle currently has around $1 billion in assets under management (AUM) in three funds.

The fund was launched in late July 2009. It now has around $50 million AUM. Although the minimum investment is one share worth $100, £100, €100 or Sfr 100, Bricheux said most institutional clients were investing between $3 million and $5 million.

The fund is administrated by European Fund Administration. UBP is the custodian and general distributor. Deloitte is the auditor.

The fund's management fee is 1.5% for A class shares and 1% for I class. The performance fee is 20%. Subscription and redemption are daily.

Kurland will co-manage the fund alongside Bob Reitzes and Scott Merves.