Alternative investment firm, Norshield Financial Group, announced on Thursday the sucessful launch of a new hedge fund-of-funds.

Univest Global Fund Ltd., a Cayman Islands exempted company that is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, commenced trading on July 1. The fund and its affiliated funds began trading with assets of US$132 million. The assets are diversified among eight strategies and invested with 17 managers, with more to be added in the future.

In a statement, Norshield said the fund offers clients the ability to customize their exposure to different alternative investment strategies through investments in the affiliated funds, which have individually managed accounts with the portfolio managers. This allows the investment manager, Norshield Investment Partners Inc. of Chicago, to provide active daily risk management for each client.

“Our goal was to launch a global flagship fund that differentiated itself by emphasizing customization and transparency and would cater to the institutional market,” said John Xanthoudakis, chairman of the Norshield Financial Group. “The level of assets that the fund already has managed to attract is an excellent first step towards achieving this objective.”

The fund is the first of several new funds that Norshield intends to launch over the coming months.