Foreign alternative fund managers are coming for Canadian cash

Canada is seen as an important market for fundraising by alternative asset managers in the US and Europe according to a new study.

Fund managers are increasingly seeking investors outside their domestic markets for capital with 65% citing Canada as one of their target markets in the next 18 months.

This makes Canadian investors a favoured source of capital ahead of the US (61%), the UK (59%), the Middle East (57%) and Singapore (56%).

The survey was conducted by Ocorian, a specialist provider of alternative fund services, among fund managers in the US and Europe.

“Our research shows that in a difficult fund-raising environment, alternative fund managers are increasingly looking outside their domestic markets and targeting new pools of capital,” said Paul Spendiff, head of business development, Fund Services at Ocorian.

Canada is also a market that 58% of respondents said they would look to for fundraising for the first time, just behind the Middle East at 60% but above the US and UK (both at 53%).

Increasing fundraising

The poll also highlights fund managers’ reading of the desire among investors for alternative assets.

More than one third of respondents believe that professional investors in the US, UK and Europe will dramatically increase their allocation to alternatives over the next 18 months.

The table shows how alternative fund managers see the level of fund raising for alternative asset class funds from investors in different countries changing over the next 18 months: