The Hermes Commodities Umbrella Fund Limited (formerly the Hermes Commodities Investment Fund Limited) is a commodity investment vehicle from Hermes. The Umbrella fund contains three sub funds: Hermes Commodities Index Fund (HCIF), Hermes Commodities Index Plus Fund and Hermes Commodities Alpha Fund.
HCIF invests in a basket of commodities futures ('Commodities') to deliver exposure to the commodity asset class. Its objective is to deliver the return on the S&P Goldman Sachs Light Energy Index giving pension fund investors exposure to the asset class via derivatives. It is designed to complement a typical pension fund's asset mix to help reduce overall risk of that pension fund without giving up the return that similar risk reduction strategies (such as allocating from equities to bonds) may do. We believe adding commodity exposure to a pension scheme's strategic asset allocation can provide significant diversification benefits due to their negative correlation with equity and bond returns.
HCIF was one of the first such vehicles designed for pension funds and one of the very few to offer a Sterling (£) share class as well as US$, Euro and Yen classes. Originally set up with a £1 billion investment for Hermes parent, the BT Pension Scheme, it is open for investment from other pension funds. Unlike other 'alternative' asset classes there is ample liquidity in commodity futures and new funds can be very quickly, efficiently and cheaply deployed into the market.
Hermes Commodities Umbrella Fund Limited is authorised by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and its constituent units are listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange.
