Sturgeon Ventures, the UK firm which incubates new wealth management businesses, has launched the Clerkenwell Matterhorn Fund, an absolute return, open-ended long/short fund with a long bias.

The fund is a sub-fund of Clerkenwell SICAV and seeks to target returns of 15 per cent per annum by investing in real estate investment trusts and property development companies.

Sturgeon said the fund was aimed at high net worth investors, family offices and institutions in the UK and Europe.

“A key theme played by the fund will be to take advantage of opportunities created by the deleveraging of the financial system. The European Central Bank has dramatically improved liquidity across the continent and cashflows are gradually improving while banks’ deleveraging will provide a steady stream of opportunities to the few companies capable of exploiting them,” said Adrian Elwood, managing director of Clerkenwell Capital and designated portfolio manager of the Matterhorn Fund.

To view an interview that this publication did with Sturgeon's managing partner, Seonaid Mackenzie, about its business and its approach to launching firms, click here.