Christian Brothers Investment Services hired Analytic Investors and Freeman Associates to manage its first hedge fund, the CUIT Market Neutral Fund. A third manager will be added when fund assets reach $50 million, according to Michael Van Dam, a CBIS spokesman. The managers are aiming for a return of between 300 and 400 basis points over Treasury bonds and will hold publicly traded midcap to large-cap stocks without leverage to insure total transparency and daily position valuations, Frank Haines, CIO, said in a statement.
The fund is available only to Catholic institutional investors with a minimum $25,000 investment. The managers will comply with CBIS stock screening criteria to comply with Catholic values on life ethics, tobacco, violence, pornography and environmental issues. Positions in the long portfolio will be selected to comply with CBIS' activist shareholder policies, which is a big focus for CBIS managers, said Mr. Van Dam.
