J.P. Morgan Funds, Highbridge to launch actively managed commodities fund

J.P. Morgan Funds, along with its sister company Highbridge Capital Management LLC, is launching an actively managed commodities fund. The Highbridge Dynamic Commodities Strategy Fund Ticker:(HDSAX) will invest in securities linked directly to the value of liquid commodities and commodities future contracts. The fund will take both long and short positions on commodity sectors, said George Gatch, president and CEO of J.P. Morgan Funds. “One of the biggest lessons of the financial crisis is that people weren't diversified enough,” Mr. Gatch said. “Now is a good time for investors to diversify their holdings away from traditional asset classes.” This will be one of the few actively managed commodities mutual funds available, said Kevin McDevitt, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. “There are a lot of commodities-oriented mutual funds but not many that take an active approach to managing commodities,” Mr. McDevitt said. “It's very difficult to short commodities and actively manage commodities.” The portfolio managers of the fund, Sassan Alizadeh, and Mark Nodelman, both have experience in this area and Mr. Alizadeh, the fund's lead manager, has done a lot of work with statistical modeling, Mr. Gatch said. Mr. Nodelman used to be a commodities portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The fund marks the second retail offering J.P. Morgan Funds has launched with Highbridge. The firms also offer the Highbridge Statistical Market Neutral Fund Ticker:(HSKAX), which has $3 billion in assets. The launch of the new fund marks the latest effort by J.P. Morgan Funds to offer sophisticated portfolios to advisers to help them hedge against inflation and market risk, Mr. Gatch said. J.P. Morgan Funds also has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an alternatives strategies fund and an equity Long short fund, according to filings. Mr. Gatch declined to comment on the filings. The total expenses for the Highbridge Dynamic Commodities Strategy are 2.08%.