Pamela Hewitt (asker) Sep 2, 2013:

Many thanks to everyone who contributed their thoughts on this term but because I cannot be absolutely sure of the correct meaning I will have to close this question without grading.

Pamela Hewitt (asker) Aug 25, 2013:

I referred this question to the client who asked around her colleagues and consulted the AMF's website but couldn't come up with an answer either. By the way, the signatory of the letter from which the text is taken is the AMF!!

rkillings Aug 23, 2013:

OPCVM de tête The AMF used this term back in 2008 in a position paper on performance swaps between funds ("Les swaps de performance sur OPCVM constituent des contrats financiers permettant à un OPCVM dit « OPCVM de tête » de recevoir la performance d’un ou plusieurs OPCVM dits « OPCVM ous-jacents » ou « OPCVM cibles »." -- Position AMF no.2008-14).
"Master fund" would NOT be the right term if this is the intended meaning: the 2+ parties to a swap agreement need not be affiliated, and the underlying or target funds are not subfunds.
But it's hard to see performance swaps as a characteristic of fund *structure* as opposed to investment policy. I suspect the writer may well mean "master fund" here but is avoiding the anglicism and unaware of how the AMF uses the term.

philgoddard Aug 22, 2013:

Header?

philgoddard Aug 22, 2013:

Is it a fund of funds, Pamela? I found "fonds de tête investissant dans un fonds cible". As you say, it doesn't look like it means "master". Even if it is a fund of funds, I'm not sure of the translation.