iM Global Partner lists on the London Stock Exchange the first European active ETF with a performance fee

The fund, ticker SARF, had already been launched as a UCITS ETF and mutual fund on 7 April 2026, with an initial listing on Euronext Paris. The listing in London extends the product’s distribution to the UK and international markets.

Structure and costs

The fund has a Total Expense Ratio (TER) of 1.20% per annum, comprising a management fee of 1.00% and a performance fee of 20%. The performance fee is calculated using the ‘high-on-high’ model: 20% is applied to any excess return relative to the previous Net Asset Value (NAV) at which the performance fees were locked in, over a reference period of one financial year.

The benchmark is the €STR Compounded Index, used for performance comparison and for calculating the performance fee.

The investment strategy

The fund’s objective is to provide investors with long-term capital appreciation through a strategy that takes long and short positions in companies worldwide. The fund maintains a net equity market exposure that may vary from -50% to +50% of the NAV, adjustable over time in response to market conditions.

Management is entrusted to a team of six sector-specialist analysts, with an average of 21 years’ experience in the sector. The approach is fundamentally driven by intrinsic bottom-up analysis, based on earnings and cash flow growth for long positions, and on the deterioration of fundamentals for short positions.

The target net exposure is maintained below 30%, with each sector equally weighted. The six sectors covered are: Consumer, Financials/Real Estate, Healthcare, Industrials, Technology/Communications and Technology/Telecom.

Sirios Capital Management: the sub-manager

The fund is sub-managed by Sirios Capital Management, an independent management firm based in Boston, founded in 1999. Sirios specialises in long/short and long-only equity strategies, driven by in-depth sector-specific fundamental research. The firm manages assets of approximately $765 million and has 28 employees, including 18 investment professionals.

iM Global Partner: the multi-boutique model

iM Global Partner (iMGP), based in Paris, is a multi-boutique asset management platform that selects and builds long-term partnerships with independent management firms. The firm acquires minority stakes in specialist boutiques and distributes their strategies to European clients.

Sirios is the second US hedge fund firm to partner with iMGP to bring strategies to the European ETF market. By 2025, iMGP had already introduced two managed futures strategies managed by DBi.

The market environment

The fund’s launch comes at a time characterised by high equity valuations, particularly in the United States, and highly concentrated equity markets. Furthermore, bond markets do not always represent the lowest-risk option, as they are often positively correlated with equities.

The iMGP Sirios Absolute Return Fund aims to address these challenges with a daily-liquid UCITS structure, offering equity upside potential with controlled market exposure.

A first in the European market

The iMGP Sirios Absolute Return Fund is the first active ETF in Europe to charge a performance fee. This cost structure is generally associated with alternative products such as hedge funds and private equity.

The fund is part of a trend towards the development of hedge fund ETFs in Europe. Following DBi, L&G and Saba have also launched similar products, with offerings expected from BNP Paribas, Man Group and Ossiam in the course of 2026