Blue Ink wins coveted hedge fund award
Selwyn Pillay, Blue Ink Investment.
The Blue Ink Fixed Income Arbitrage Fund walked away with the Fixed Income Fund of Hedge Funds award at the annual HedgeNews Africa Awards gala dinner in Cape Town on 19 February 2015.
The Fund emerged as a winner in the category, having achieved a performance of 14.51% in 2014 and a 12-month Sharpe ratio of 2.05. The annual awards, attended by the industry's preeminent fund managers and investors, are based on monthly data compiled by HedgeNews Africa, the region's leading independent hedge fund industry publisher, and recognise the best risk-adjusted returns of hedge funds in South Africa and the broader Africa region.
The award goes to the fund with the highest return for the 12-month period, provided its Sharpe ratio (a return-per-unit-of-risk-measure) is within 25% of the top Sharpe ratio achieved among the nominees in each category. Two additional criteria for winning an award are: 1) a return above the median for the category; and 2) the fund must be within 10% of its high water mark.
Blue Ink, a member of the Sanlam Group in South Africa, is a South African based fund of hedge funds solutions and hedge fund platform provider, which prides itself in providing a high level of service to its clients. Blue Ink’s vision is to lead Africa in providing innovative and effective alternative solutions.
The Blue Ink investment team is composed of Selwyn Pillay, Grant Hogan and Tatenda Chapinduka. Combined, the team has 40 years of experience in hedge funds and their funds have won several accolades over the years. Investor education is important to the business and, to ensure that investors make informed decisions before investing with Blue Ink, it readily shares information on hedge funds in general, as well as on its investment products, with potential investors.
“We are elated to have walked away with the award. This bears testimony to the hard work we have put into the investment process, risk management and building an award-winning team,” says Selwyn Pillay, CIO of Blue Ink. The fund has achieved an annualised return of 12.40% since its launch in January 2009, outperforming bonds (8.05%) over the same period at a lower volatility. “We have partnered with skilful managers and we are glad our portfolio construction is working over the long run,” added Grant Hogan, the portfolio manager of the Blue Ink Fixed Income Arbitrage Fund.
Another fund managed by the Blue Ink team, the Blue Ink Commodity Arbitrage Fund, narrowly missed out on the Fund of Hedge Funds of the Year award, even though it had the best return of all South African based fund of hedge funds, as it had a lower Sharpe ratio. The fund returned 19.60% in 2014.
