AZ Athenaeum offers cat bond to Asian investors

AZ Athenaeum, the joint venture between Singapore fund house Athenaeum and Italy asset manager Azimut, is set to bring a catastrophe bond to the Asian market.

The bond is one of nine Ucits funds (investment funds regulated at European Union level) being sold to accredited investors in Singapore.

Eight of the new funds are Ucits versions of existing Azimut funds, and one is an Asia absolute product, an Ucits clone of Athenaeum’s total returns Asia strategy.

A timetable for the launches was not provided.

“We are a manager of money and plan to become a manager of wealth," said Marco Cora, deputy managing director at AZ Athenaeum and Azimut's representative at the JV."

He added that AZ Athenaeum was aiming to tap segments of the market that it believes are under-served.

“If you are not very wealthy, the big banks are not interested. These clients are not receiving bespoke services. Probably they feel they deserve more interaction with managers.”