Top hedge funds recognized for 2015 performance
South Africa’s top hedge funds were recognised for their outstanding achievements in 2015 at a gala dinner hosted by HedgeNews Africa in Cape Town last night, February 25, 2016.
The Capricorn Performer Fund was the winner of the prestigious Fund of the Year trophy and the All Weather Performance Fund was recognised as the Best Long/Short Fund, the industry’s biggest category.
Capricorn Performer was commended for its outstanding risk-adjusted return in the 2015 calendar year, delivering a net gain of 38.14% on a Sharpe ratio of 3.7 compared with a 5.1% return from the Johannesburg All Share TRI Index over the same period.
It was the second trophy for Capricorn Fund Managers, which also won the award for Best Market-Neutral and Quantitative Fund, outperforming its peers with a strong return of 34.69% and a Sharpe ratio of 3.69.
All Weather Capital delivered a return of 26.39% on an outstanding Sharpe ratio of 9.23, beating its competitors in the highly contested long/short category, which is the biggest in the South African industry both by assets and number of funds. The fund is managed by Johannesburg-based All Weather Capital, one of the country’s few black-owned hedge fund firms.
In the Multi-Strategy category, the Prosperitas Fund was the victor, with a net return of 20.7% and a Sharpe of 3.71, while the Abax Fixed Interest Fund took the honours in its category with a 9.49% net gain and 2.27 Sharpe ratio, in a year in which South Africa’s All Bond Index declined 3.9%.
In the Specialist Strategies category, the Catalyst Alpha en Commandite Partnership, a long/short real estate focused fund, emerged victorious, with a 28.7% gain and 2.7 Sharpe ratio.
Amongst new funds, judged over 12 months for funds with a track record of between 12 and 23 months, the award went to the Tower Aggressive Fund, with a stellar return of 46.91% and Sharpe ratio of 1.5.
The awards also include multi-manager or fund of hedge fund portfolios. THINK.CAPITAL Growth Fund was the best performer over 12 months in the multi-strategy category, with a 21.96% gain on a Sharpe of 4.44, while the TriAlpha Enhanced Fixed Income Hedge Fund won the prize in the fixed income category, gaining a net 6.08% on a 0.16 Sharpe.
Africa-focused portfolios had a tough year, yet there were funds in the HedgeNews Africa database that significantly outperformed their peers and the broader Africa markets. In a year in which the MSCI Emerging Frontier Markets Africa ex-SA Index lost 19.52% and the S&P All Africa ex-SA Index fell by -27.29%, the Pan Africa and MENA Hedge Award went to the SSCG Africa Opportunities Master Fund, which added a net 10.12% in US dollar terms with a Sharpe ratio of 0.6. In the Africa long/only and absolute return category, the Laurium Limpopo African Equity Fund was the top fund, preserving capital with a -11.94% return in dollar terms and -1.03 Sharpe.
The Awards also recognise performance over three and five years. Laurium Capital took its second award for the night in the Three-Year Single-Manager category, with the Laurium Aggressive Long Short Fund returning a net annualised 35.88% on a Sharpe of 3.11.
Over five years, the Peregrine High Growth Fund took the honours with an annualised return of 27.75% on a Sharpe of 3.37%.
Amongst fund of hedge funds, the winner of the three-year award was the Rosebank Wealth Group Long/Short Hedged Equity Fund, which gained an annualised 17.76% with a Sharpe of 1.94.
The Old Mutual Multi Managers Long Short Equity Fund of Hedge Funds was judged best fund of funds over five years with an annualised return of 16.06% and Sharpe of 2.42.
Now in their seventh year, the awards recognise the best risk-adjusted returns of funds in South Africa and the broader Africa region each calendar year, based on an established methodology and independently verified data submitted to the HedgeNews Africa database, the region’s leading independent publisher focused on the hedge fund and alternative asset management industries.
“Markets have been particularly challenging both in 2015 and into 2016, with the nominees and eventual winners of these awards showing the ability to adapt in difficult markets to protect capital and generate gains for their investors,” said Gwyneth Roberts, editor of HedgeNews Africa. “This is an industry that is proving responsive to change, both when it comes to market conditions and also to the evolving needs of investors and regulators.”
Attended by the industry’s leading fund managers and investors, the annual awards are hosted in partnership with top service providers to the industry, namely Investec, RMB, Absa Capital, Deutsche Bank, and Peregrine.
