Absolute Capital Management (ACM), the London hedge fund manager headed by Donegal man, Mr Seán Ewing, is planning to take a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) before Christmas.

The company, which lists its funds on the Irish Stock Exchange, also intends to shift its back-office administration from the Cayman Islands to Dublin.

ACM will be one of only three hedge fund businesses on the AIM. Mr Ewing is hoping that the transparency that comes with a stock-market listing will allow the firm to widen its customer base, particularly within the funds of funds market. Funds of funds are essentially investment funds that invest in other funds. They tend to require a high standard of compliance from the funds in which they invest.

ACM currently has three funds that together contain more than €300 million in assets. The products concentrate on building absolute returns rather than returns measured relative to overall market performance.

Mr Ewing believes that absolute returns will be a "mainstream" investment requirement within two to five years.

The initial public offering will place a value of about €55 million on ACM, with Mr Ewing to hold a 38 per cent stake.

London investment house, Dawnay Day, will take a further 15 per cent with the remainder to be held by management, staff and other institutions.

ACM will use the new investment to help it launch more funds. It will list these structures in Dublin, and is planning to award its back-office administration to an IFSC company within the next few months.

Mr Ewing, who was born in Dublin but grew up in Donegal and Sligo, became a multi-millionaire in 2000 when he sold another fund management company for 30 million sterling (€43 million).