Hedge funds advanced by 0.80 per cent gain on average during August, rebounding from July’s narrow loss to put the industry’s year-to-date returns back into double-digit territory. New data published by Hedge Fund Research this week shows managers have now added 10 per cent since in the eight-month period since the start of 2021.
Equity long/short, event driven, macro, relative value and emerging markets strategies all notched up positive returns last month, successfully navigating what HFR president Kenneth Heinz termed an “evolving continuum of risk”, which includes geopolitical instability, monetary policy, immigration, and ongoing pandemic challenges and complexities.
In this week’s feature story, Craig Bergstrom, chief investment officer of long-running multi-strategy credit-focused firm Corbin Capital Partners, discusses how the USD9 billion manager is navigating the rapidly-evolving opportunity set in credit markets. In a wide-ranging interview, Bergstrom reflects on the post-Covid opportunity set, the enduring legacy of the 2008 global financial crisis on structured credit, and how inflation is shaping the firm’s positioning.
TCI Fund Management, the high-profile activist hedge fund firm led by Sir Christopher Hohn, this week called on Canadian National Railway to end its “reckless, irresponsible, and value destructive pursuit” of Kansas City Southern. TCI wants to requisition a special meeting of CN shareholders aimed at overhauling the board and replacing its CEO.
Petershill, a private equity unit of Goldman Sachs that takes minority stakes in alternative investment firms including hedge funds and private equity managers, has unveiled plans for a new publicly-traded vehicle on the London Stock Exchange. Described by Goldman as a “distinctive and compelling” proposition, Petershill – which has holdings in Caxton Associates and LMR Partners, among others – will provide direct minority equity investments and acceleration capital for hedge funds and private equity companies.
The latest hedge fund outlook from Barclays’ Prime Services Capital Solutions unit shows industry flows have turned positive for the first time since 2017, with allocators adding USD18 billion during the first half of 2021 as flows stayed positive over the last four quarters.
Investor sentiment towards hedge funds has turned markedly bullish over the course of this year, Barclays said, powered by a mix of high equity values, inflation, and solid returns across strategy types.
That impressive momentum comes amid predictions of “the greatest asset raising environment in the history of the hedge fund industry”.
In a guest column this week, Agecroft Partners’ founder and CEO Don Steinbrugge said the next 15 months will offer “potentially a once-in-a-career opportunity” for managers to grow assets.
“Most hedge fund managers have spent very few resources on travel or marketing over the past 18 months,” Steinbrugge observed. “Now is the time to use those resources to get in front of as many investors as possible.”
Hugh Leask
Editor, Hedgeweek