Scotia Capital announced today that it will be launching the Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance Index early in 2006.

The index will provide investors with a monthly snapshot of the growing Canadian hedge fund scene. The index will focus exclusively on qualified funds managed by Canadian domiciled advisors. A set of minimum track record and minimum size criteria will be used in the index construction.

“This kind of initiative would not have been possible five years ago,” said Colin Bugler, managing director of Scotia Capital’s prime brokerage operation, in a release. “It is only recently that the community of Canadian managers has grown to a size that makes this kind of index meaningful. People want Canadian managers on their radar screens.”

The initial release will be a broad industry index across all hedge fund strategies. Future plans include strategy-specific sub indices, as well as an index focusing on emerging Canadian managers that might not qualify for the main hedge fund index.

“We see many quality managers who have a uniquely Canadian flavour,” said Les Marton, managing director of Scotia Capital’s global alternative asset group. “We are constantly asked by institutional investors around the world whether Canada is worth looking at from an investment perspective. This index will give us something to point to.”

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2005/02/c9506.html