European investment manager Rothschild Asset Management and Rye Brook, N.Y.-based fund of hedge funds Larch Lane Advisors have formed a joint venture to set up an alternative mutual fund. The two firms will create the Rothschild Larch Lane Management Company, which will act as the advisor to multi-manager liquid alternative '40 Act funds. The sub advisors for the fund have already been selected although Michael Tamasco, co-head of Rothschild AM, couldn't yet name them.

Tamasco added that this is a continuation of the firm's expansion into the retail space, as it's already launched collective investment trusts and UCITS over the past few years. Rothschild, which is headquartered in France, manages $30 billion globally, with $5 billion in the U.S. There is, so far, $250 million in the collective investment trusts and $100 million in the UCITS funds. Tamasco declined to name growth targets for the mutual fund with Larch Lane, though he mentioned it's just the beginning of more product development plans in the daily liquid mutual fund space.

The firm is seeing a lot of interest from U.S. investors in liquid alternative strategies and Tamasco said it'd make sense for the firm to offer more liquid versions of its existing strategies.

"We'll continue to diversify our business that's traditionally focused on DB clients and separate accounts," Tamasco said. "We'll continue to develop products in the daily valued space."

Tamasco joined Rothschild in 2011 as its chief marketing officer and has since been promoted to co-head. He was previously at Lazard Asset Management, another investment management firm that's owned by a French bank, where he spent 10 years and also helped the firm expand into the U.S. retail space. 

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