Albireo Asset Management, the Toronto-based firm running what is believed to be the first hedge fund focused on the space and aeronautics sector, will cease trading and close its fund next month. The Albireo Space & Aeronautics Fund was rolled out in April and Steve Rogers, founder, hoped it would open with CAD2-5 million (iialternatives.com, 2/10). In fact, it launched with around CAD500,000. The fund struggled to gain ground, and returned -4.55% in August. Through Sept. 30, it returned -1.86% (iialternatives.com, 10/6).
“I have decided to go back to traditional employment and manage money on someone else’s payroll,” Rogers wrote in an email to investors. Having closed the fund, he will take up a position at Toronto-based mutual fund firm Mavrix Asset Management. Rogers could not be reached at press time.