Against a background of lukewarm returns for hedge funds so far this year, BlueCrest AllBlue Fund Ltd, a UK-listed vehicle placing money into a variety of strategies, said it raised almost £350 million (around $519 million) from the issuance of sterling-class shares.

The firm said that its fund has chalked up annualized returns of 12.4 per cent since September 2005; its net asset value, rose by 21.54 per cent last year.

Investors will be interested in the amount of shares sold, as this will cast some light on whether hedge funds, which were battered by global markets in 2008 and recovered last year, are again attracting significant interest.

BlueCrest AllBlue Fund Ltd’s chairman, Richard Crowder, described the fund-raising as the largest made by the firm in its history. As a result of the share issuance, the company will generate net assets of £808.7 million.

Hedge funds have so far had a relatively slow year: since January, the CS/Tremont index of hedge fund returns is up by only 1.48 per cent.