Pictet Asset Management has launched the Pictet Total Return-Lotus fund, an event-driven special situations Asia equity fund.

The strategy seeks to capture the distinctive opportunity in Pan-Asian equities. This includes short- to medium-term corporate catalysts and longer-term secular trends, such as China’s restructuring, the growth of South East Asia and improving corporate governance in Japan.

It invests in three areas: defined catalysts, including equity capital market trades, thematic and special situations; pre-event, including M&A, divestment and spin-off; as well as announced M&A.

The strategy aims for consistent, uncorrelated returns with limited volatility throughout the cycle. It is focused on disciplined risk management and rigorous analysis of companies and situations. 

Pictet AM said the diversification helps to provide stable, all-weather results in a region defined by dynamic but often dislocated markets.

The weekly-dealing UCITS strategy is registered for sale in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The fund will be overseen by Jon Withaar, head of Asia special situations, and supported by analysts Shawn Ban and Jeremy Thia.

Withaar said: “Asia is a great source of alpha due to its size, diversity and less-crowded opportunity set. Opportunity and risk often come hand-in-hand, however, so we are adopting a well-diversified and cautious investment approach.”

The launch marks an expansion of the $11 billion actively managed Total Return franchise.

Market-neutral funds in the range are Agora (European equity), Aquila (global equity) and Diversified Alpha (multi-strategy).

Also in the range are the equity long/short directional funds, Corto (European equities), Mandarin (China equities), Atlas (global equities), Atlas Titan (global equities), as well as the distressed debt and special situations (event-driven) and Sirius (EMD long/short) funds.

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