Alken soft-closes long/short Europe fund after strong inflows

Alken Asset Management has soft-closed Nicholas Walewski's Absolute Return Europe fund after the strategy experienced significant inflows.

The fund has taken in over £700m since the start of last year, in keeping with investors' growing interest in absolute return long/short strategies. The closure will take effect on 19 March, with the group accepting no money from new investors after this date. Existing investors will be able to allocate a maximum of €500,000 (£417,000) per day per shareholder. In a letter to shareholders, the group said: "Given the size of the fund and its recent strong inflows, the investment manager believes that it is not in the interest of the shareholders to continue with such growth pace. "As...