Fairtree Hedge Funds take the silverware for 2019

Stephen Brown, Portfolio Manager at Fairtree

The Fairtree Assegai Equity Long Short SNN QI Hedge Fund won the Fund of the Year for the second time with the fund returning 45.49% for the 2019 calendar year.

Three Fairtree hedge funds won in their nominated categories in the 11th Hedge News Africa Awards held in Cape Town last night. The Annual Awards aim to recognise the best hedge fund managers on the continent.

Fairtree was nominated in three categories:

Long/short equity - Fairtree Assegai Equity Long Short SNN QI Hedge Fund

Multi-strategy - Fairtree Wild Fig Multi Strategy SNN QI Hedge Fund and Fairtree Woodland Multi Strategy SNN QI Hedge Fund

Five-year Performance – Single-Manager - Fairtree Assegai Equity Long Short SNN QI Hedge Fund

As the winner of two awards, Stephen Brown’s Fairtree Assegai Equity Long Short SNN QI Hedge Fund won best 5-year performance award, plus the prestigious Fund of the Year.

“We are very thankful for the recognition of the Assegai fund’s five-year performance track record,” said Portfolio Manager Stephen Brown.

He sang praise to active managers countrywide when receiving the award.

He added the investment process and philosophy remained unchanged. “This award is a result of a group effort from the whole Fairtree team, and we are very excited about the skills set that has been built within the group.”

“Financial markets have been volatile and complicated over this time, but our process and team skill set have successfully delivered strong performance, although there has been difficulty in navigating challenging markets over the five-year period.

After receiving the Multi Strategy Hedge Fund of the Year award, Bradley Anthony (CEO of Fairtree) commented: "We are very thankful for this award, which recognises the continued effort of a large and extremely talented group of people in the Fairtree team."

Now in their 11th year, the Awards measure the best risk-adjusted returns of funds across 13 different categories. They are based on monthly data submitted to the HedgeNews Africa database, which includes South African hedge funds as well as other pioneering strategies applied across the broader African markets.