The KLS Scopia Market Neutral Equity Fund has grown its AUM to $63m and recorded a 12-month trailing net return of 9.8% since being launched by New York-based hedge fund manager Scopia Capital Management in UCITs format on Kepler Partners’ KLS Funds platform.
Scopia was founded in 2001, and for a period of over two decades, the Scopia Market Neutral Strategy has demonstrated its ability to generate diversifying returns.
The KLS Scopia Market Neutral Equity Fund, a Dublin domiciled UCITs fund, provides access to the Scopia Market Neutral Strategy, which employs a fundamentals-based, equity market neutral approach.
The strategy has generated a 7.1% annualised return with a 7.9% annualised volatility since inception in April 2001. It has performed particularly well during periods of higher interest rates; in particular, the strategy returned: +19.6% (2021), +19.3% (2022) and +9.4% (2023), with a number of strong double digit calendar year returns between 2001-2008. Historically, it has also performed well in equity drawdowns (an 22-Sep 22: S&P 500 Index -24%, vs Scopia: +14%) and has displayed 0.0 correlation to the S&P 500 Index since inception.
Year to date, the KLS Scopia Market Neutral Equity Fund has returned 5.9% net of fees. Importantly, the fund continued to deliver positive performance during recent spells of market volatility, returning 1.8% during the month of August 2024.
