Schroders is feeding the hedge fund appetite for setting up regulated onshore funds with the launch of Gaia, short for Global Alternative Investor Access.

This Luxembourg-based Sicav will act as an umbrella for hedge fund strategies packaged as Ucits III funds. The first fund available is the Schroder Gaia Egerton European Equity Fund, managed by Egerton Capital, a European equity long/short hedge fund manager with $4.4bn (£2.7bn, €2.9bn) under management.