March 12 (Bloomberg) -- GO Capital Asset Management BV blocked clients from pulling cash from its Global Opportunities Fund, at least the seventh hedge fund in the past month forced to take steps to protect itself from market fluctuations.

Frans van Schaik, the former head of equity research at ABN Amro Holding NV who founded the Amsterdam-based fund in 2000, wrote to investors that the fund is not leveraged and not facing margin calls. The fund, which bets both on rising and falling prices, has assets of about 570 million euros ($881 million).

``A temporary suspension of redemptions is the best defensive measure to protect the interests of the participants,'' van Schaik and other members of GO Capital's management said in a letter posted on their Web site and dated March 11. ``Current market circumstances do not allow the fund to sell investments at a reasonable price.''

Hedge funds managing more than $5.4 billion have been forced to liquidate or sell holdings since Feb. 15. As U.S. subprime contagion spread, the MSCI World Index fell 16 percent from a record on Oct. 31 through yesterday. The other funds included Peloton Partners LLP's $1.8 billion ABS Fund, Tequesta Capital Advisor's mortgage fund and Focus Capital Investors LLC, which invested in midsize Swiss companies.

Drake Management LLC, the New York-based firm started by former BlackRock Inc. money managers, may shut its largest hedge fund after a 25 percent decline last year, according to a letter to investors today.

European Focus

GO focused mostly on listed European equities, although it was not restricted in investments it could make, the Web site says. The fund planned to make bets on between 10 and 30 stocks and looked for ``situations of overreaction or stress,'' according to the Web site.

The fund held 25 percent of Hamburg-based Thielert AG, a maker of propeller engines for aircraft, and 22 percent of Devgen NV, a Belgian biotechnology company with headquarters in Ghent, according to filings from December through February,.

Thielert dropped as much as 15 percent today and fell 8.9 percent to 4.43 euros as of 4:35 p.m. in Frankfurt. Devgen declined 4.4 percent to 12.45 euros.

The fund also owned a 26 percent stake in Stern Groep NV, a Dutch car dealer based in Amsterdam. A total of 92 Stern shares traded today, with the stock trading 1.2 percent higher at 30.66 euros.

Asset Value Drops

Van Schaik didn't respond to an e-mail or phone calls seeking comment. The note didn't specify what investments the fund couldn't sell. GO Capital's managers also include ABN Amro veterans Corneille Couwenberg, Mike Kranenburg and Albert Jellema.

The fund, which targeted returns of 15 percent a year, is down 7.7 percent through the end of February, according to net asset value figures on its Web site. It gained 2.1 percent last month, reversing a 9.5 percent drop in January. The fund rose 3.3 percent in 2007, 22.4 percent in 2006 and 69 percent in 2005.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Cahill in London at tcahill@bloomberg.net; Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 12, 2008 11:53 EDT