Optima Asset Management: Best Multi-Manager Hedge Fund (Equity Strategies) – Dixon Boardman founded New York-based Optima Fund Management* in 1988. Since inception, Optima has been at the vanguard of hedge fund investing, navigating across diverse market environments while providing its clients access to differentiated opportunities. In Optima’s June edition of its investor newsletter, Boardman pointed out that the whipsaw action of the markets in 2020 has been a challenge not just for hedge funds but for all asset managers. “In my role, it’s critical to be highly selective about managers and to have a very real understanding of their ability to

Massar Capital Management: Best Macro Hedge Fund – New York-based Massar Capital Management, LP was founded by Marwan Younes in 2015. Prior to founding the firm, Younes served as a portfolio manager at both Jamison Capital Partners and Graham Capital Management, where he traded discretionary macro and commodity strategies. The Massar Macro Commodity Strategy (“Massar”) was launched on 1st February 2015 and currently manages USD 433 million as of November 2020.  Massar blends a discretionary global macro approach with advanced data analytics to generate risk-adjusted returns uncorrelated to major market indices and other hedge fund strategies. This is evident over longer

Aequim Alternative Investments: Best Credit Long/Short Hedge Fund – Aequim is a relative value credit manager focused on capital structure arbitrage established by Portfolio Manager and CIO Franklin Parlamis in 2018. The Aequim Arbitrage Master Fund is essentially a continuation of the Pine River Convertibles Fund Parlamis managed during his tenure at Pine River from August 2009 to January 2017. The Fund’s objective is to generate market-neutral returns by dynamically allocating capital across Convertible Arbitrage, Credit Arbitrage and Volatility Arbitrage. Since its inception in May 2018, the Fund has generated a Sharpe Ratio of 2.2 and an annualised volatility of 4.4

Torgos Credit Opportunities: Best Distressed Debt Hedge Fund – Torgos Credit Opportunities is a multi-pronged credit strategy seeking to invest across debt capital structures of corporate issuers primarily in North America and Europe.  The strategy allocates capital on a bottom-up basis, seeking out deep value opportunities in three key areas: 1) hard and soft catalyst performing and non-performing corporate events; 2) senior secured loans with strong collateral coverage and credit fundamentals and 3) credit volatility, to protect against downside movement.  Raj Davé is the portfolio manager of Torgos Credit Opportunities and when asked to explain the investment philosophy he comments:  “We

Elementum Advisors: Best Insurance-Linked Securities Hedge Fund – Elementum Advisors, LLC is an independent investment manager specialising in collateralised natural event reinsurance investments. Headquartered in Chicago, Elementum was launched in December 2009 by Founding Partners and Senior Portfolio Managers, John DeCaro and Tony Rettino, and Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer, Michael France. Elementum’s firm-wide AUM is USD4.2 billion (as of 30 June 2020).  This year marks Elementum’s second decade of investing in Insurance Linked Securities (ILS). Referring to the internal culture that has been fostered since inception, DeCaro says the collective goal is to fulfil its vision of becoming the

Crestline Summit: Best Equity Market-Neutral & Quant Hedge Fund – Crestline Summit Equity Alpha was named Best Market Neutral Hedge Fund at the Hedgeweek US Awards 2020. Winners were recognised at a virtual ceremony on 29 October.

Arena Investors: Best Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund – Arena Investors currently manages USD1.7 billion in assets and since its inception in 2015 the firm has deployed USD2.4 billion across 203 transactions. Daniel Zwirn is Arena’s CEO and CIO and oversees the investment team. Arena invests across six verticals, which include: corporate private credit, real estate private credit, commercial and industrial assets, structured finance, consumer assets, and corporate securities.  “Arena is set-up as an ‘enterprise’ (versus a ‘fund’) that includes over 60 professionals plus a vast global relationship network, scanning the breadth of asset and credit-oriented investment areas, and clearly identifies the risk/reward

LOIM, 1798 Alternatives | 1798 Fundamental Strategies Fund: Best Multi-Manager Hedge Fund (Multi-Strategy) – Lombard Odier Investment Managers established its own alternatives business, 1798 Alternatives, in 2007 and is headed up by Jean-Pascal Porcherot (pictured). Since inception, its AUM has grown to USD4.9 billion within liquid alternatives and hedge funds. More specifically, USD0.9 billion is held in a multi-strategy product that invests in a range of equity, relative value, tail risk, and event driven strategies across a number of investment styles.