DUBAI, August 29, 2024 — Magellan Capital, an investment manager regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), has launched its flagship multi-strategy hedge fund with $975 million in public markets assets. This marks the first time the firm has opened its absolute return platform to outside investors, signaling a significant expansion of its capabilities.
Fund Expands After Initial $700 Million Target
The new vehicle, Magellan Absolute Return SPC, builds on plans announced in August 2024 for a $700 million fund, demonstrating strong investor interest and confidence in the firm’s strategy.
- Magellan Capital’s new hedge fund boasts $975 million in assets.
- The fund is anchored by capital from Magellan Capital’s owner.
- It employs a range of public markets strategies, aiming for uncorrelated returns.
- Ahmed Omar will lead the fund, leveraging a seasoned investment team.
The Magellan Absolute Return Fund is currently fully funded by in-house capital from Magellan Capital’s ultimate beneficial owner, a move designed to align the interests of management with prospective external investors. This demonstrates a strong commitment to the fund’s success from within the firm.
What kind of investment strategies will the fund employ? The fund will utilize a variety of public markets strategies, including global macro, emerging market credit, long-only equity, and long-short equity. Magellan Capital aims to generate uncorrelated, risk-adjusted returns by capitalizing on mispricings driven by structural, behavioral, and liquidity factors in global capital markets.
By offering investors direct exposure alongside the firm’s principal capital, the fund seeks to foster a strong alignment of interests between the manager and its limited partners. The platform is geared toward institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals who desire diversified access to global public markets strategies without the need to develop their own in-house investment teams.
Ahmed Omar to Spearhead Investment Strategy
Ahmed Omar, Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer of Magellan Capital, will lead the Magellan Absolute Return Fund. He oversees the firm’s strategic direction, investment activities, and institutional growth. The fund benefits from the support of a senior investment team with over 100 years of combined experience in buy-side and sell-side roles at prominent global financial institutions.
“Opening the fund to external capital marks an important milestone for Magellan that will broaden the offering to the investor base,” Omar said. “We built this platform to provide family offices and institutional allocators with institutional-quality access and execution without the overhead of building in-house investment teams. Our multi-asset approach allows us to shift positioning as market conditions evolve, preserving liquidity and maintaining portfolio balance across cycles.”
Magellan Capital is regulated by the DFSA and maintains its headquarters in Dubai, with additional offices in London and Abu Dhabi. The firm operates across both public and private capital markets, focusing on high-quality and deep-value opportunities in Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
The launch highlights Dubai’s increasing prominence as a center for global asset management, as regional investment managers actively seek to attract international capital through sophisticated, institutionally structured hedge fund platforms.
