Industry stalwarts walk away with top prizes
at 2009 InvestHedge Awards

Award Sponsors:

Some 300 of the leading players in the global fund of hedge funds industry came together at the Pierre Hotel in New York for the seventh annual InvestHedge Fund of Hedge Funds Awards, an event which recognises the best risk adjusted performers among the global fund of hedge funds universe. 

Aurora Investment Management, formerly Harris Associates, walked away with the prestigious Fund of the Year award having been nominated in nine categories for the year. The Chicago-based firm previously won this top award in 2003.

New York-based Archstone Partners, nominated six times for 2009, won Group of the Year, an accolade it last won in 2004. Twenty-one awards were handed out to different fund of funds groups with 12 out of the 21 winners based in the US.

Twelve of the 21 firms could be considered boutiques as defined by size of firm (eg. with less than $5 billion under management) and investment philosophy. 

The challenges in 2009 included sorting through the rubble of side pockets, gates and suspensions, making net asset value calculations much more complicated that usual. So as not to reward firms that were still down after big losses in 2008, and to ensure that winners will still be in business in six months times, InvestHedge imposed a new criterion that required all nominees to be within 10% of their high water marks.

Orbita Capital Return Strategy, now under the Aberdeen Asset Management brand, won Arbitrage Fund of the Year, while Freestone Advantage Partners took home the Event-Driven & Distressed prize. Fixed Income & Credit went to Permal Fixed Income Holdings, while NewFinance Capital's Opus Commodity Fund took home the Commodities & Natural Resource Award. LCF Rothschild took home the Global Macro prize, which Trading Capital Holdings had last won in 2007. New Fund of the Year was won by the van Biema Asia Value Fund.

In the equity biased awards, Italy's Hedge Invest Global Fund took home the Global Equity Award, while Man Investment's RMF Emerging Market Opportunities Fund took home the Asian & Emerging Markets Award. 

European strategies suffered in 2009, but the award was taken home by Edmond de Rothschild Prifund Alpha Europe. In the US, Magnitude US Partners took home the US equity prize, while Protégé Partners scored a remarkable hat trick with its third successive Emerging Managers Award.

The flagship Global Multi-Strategy Award continues to have many high calibre candidates – so this year InvestHedge decided to make three awards on a one-year basis and three more on a three-year basis.

BCM Discovery Fund won in the one-year GMS <$500m category, while SAIL Multi-Strategies Fund – Topaz took home the GMS $500-$1bn award. EnTrust Capital Diversified Fund won the award for the larger GMS funds of >$1bn over one year.

Jim Melcher's Balestra Spectrum Partners multi-manager fund won in the three-year GMS <$500m category, while SSARIS Multi-Manager Absolute Return Strategy took home the GMS $500-$1bn award. Fauchier Partners' Jubilee Absolute Return Fund won the award for larger GMS >$1bn funds over the three-year period. 

As more and more end investors look at longer term performance, the Long Term Award, judged over 10 years on a risk adjusted basis, was also split into two by asset size. Stenham Quadrant Portfolio won the $500m to $1 billion category, while GAM Trading II won the 10 Year Performance Award for funds with more than $1 billion in assets.

WINNERS:

Arbitrage
Orbita Capital Return Strategy 

Event Driven & Distressed
Freestone Advantage Partners 

Fixed Income & Credit
Permal Fixed Income Holdings 

Commodities & Natural Resources
Opus Commodities Fund

Global Macro
Trading Capital Holdings

Global Equity
Hedge Invest Global Fund

Asian & Emerging Markets Strategies
RMF Emerging Market Opportunities

European Strategies
Edmond de Rothschild Prifund Alpha Europa 

US Strategies
Magnitude US Partners

Emerging Managers
Protégé Partners Fund 

GMS <$500m
BCM Discovery Fund 

GMS$500-$1bn
SAIL Multi-Strategies Fund - Topaz 

GMS >$1bn
EnTrust Capital Diversified Fund 

GMS <500bn 3 Years
Balestra Spectrum Partners 

GMS $500-$1bn 3 Years
SSARIS Multi-Manager Absolute Return Strategy

GMS >1bn 3 Years
Jubilee Absolute Return Fund 

10 YR Award >$500m
Stenham Quadrant Portfolio

10 YR Award >$1bn
GAM Trading II 

New Fund
van Biema Asia Value Fund 

Group of The Year
Archstone Partnerships

Fund of the Year
Aurora Global Opportunities