Blue Sky to list alternatives LIC

The alternatives fund manager said the fund will be Australia’s only directly managed alternatives-focused listed investment company (LIC) and has already managed to raise $60 million in capital.

The Alternatives Access Fund is already on a number of approved product lists and a wide range of platforms, according to Blue Sky.

Blue Sky managing director Alexander McNab told ifa that the benefit of the fund being listed is that it can be accessed by all the different categories of advisors and investors so demand will come from across the spectrum.

Mr McNab said planning groups have played an important role in forming the idea for the LIC as a number of groups approached Blue Sky stating that while they wanted to allocate to alternatives, accessing these kinds of funds was difficult due to the structure of the funds.

“The listed investment structure has removed a lot of the structural barriers that have made it challenging for individual investors to get exposure to alternatives,” he said.

Ben Wilson, director of corporate finance at financial advisory firm Ord Minnett said the fund has already received a lot of interest from financial planning, private wealth, SMSF and retail investors who have found it hard to access alternatives until now.

“While most Australian LICs invest in listed equities and fixed interest, the Alternatives Access Fund will hold a diversified portfolio of alternative assets managed by Blue Sky across the company’s four divisions of real assets, private equity and venture capital, private real estate and hedge funds,” said Mr Wilson.