Agecroft Partners, the hedge fund consulting and third party marketing firm, plans to add an additional hedge fund manager to the platform of hedge funds it represents during the fourth quarter.

While many competitors and hedge fund managers have struggled to raise assets, Agecroft Partners is on track to raise over a billion dollars in 2012.

The majority of the assets Agecroft has raised over the past year have come from pension funds and endowments, however it has also been successful in raising assets from family offices and funds of funds in Europe and North America. 

“One of the challenges in our business is that if you are successful in helping your hedge fund clients grow their assets to capacity, you constantly need to find new managers each year,” says Don Steinbrugge (pictured), managing partner of Agecroft Partners.
 
In selecting a new hedge fund Agecroft Partners uses an institutional due diligence process that focuses on a combination of quantitative and qualitative screens to narrow the universe of hedge funds.  The team's quantitative screens include assets under management of at least USD75m in the strategy, risk adjusted performance that ranks near the top of their strategy peer group, and low correlation to major market indices that are relevant to the strategy of the fund. 

Qualitative screens include consideration of how well the strategy will perform in the current economic environment, overall strength of the organisation with an eye towards appropriate staffing and infrastructure, quality of investment team’s pedigree, and investment philosophy and process.