It will be Fortis’s third Australian equities retail product in Australia.
The firm already runs two long-only retail funds, the Australian Equity Fund and Concentrated Australian Equity Fund.
“The long-short product is not going to be as large as the other funds – we are going to cap it. By the virtue of its size we will be able to access alpha by more alpha opportunities,” Fortis Investments head of Australian equities George Clapham said.
The cap would likely be set around $500 million, Clapham said.
Fortis, which is owned by French bank BNP Paribas, has already been operating a wholesale version of the long-short fund for more than four years.
The fund is not listed on any platform and the launch of the retail fund will make it available to retail investors for the first time.
On average, the fund will hold two-thirds in long positions and one-third in short positions on Australian equities.
Clapham said the fund would be different from existing long-short funds in the market in that it had a wider range of shorting opportunities to choose from.
The Fortis long-only funds consist of a maximum of 35 stocks, compared to an average of 80 to 100 stocks in traditional funds.
