The winners of the Hedgeweek Global Awards 2013, as voted for by our readers…

By James Williams – The winners of hedgeweek’s Global Awards 2013 gathered at an awards presentation lunch sponsored by Lyxor Asset Management in London’s Mayfair earlier this month.

Mendon Capital Advisors is based in Rochester, New York. Founded in 1996 by Anton Schutz (pictured), the fund employs a long/short equity strategy with an event-driven slant, and focuses primarily on the US financial services sector. 

In 1997, David Harding and two employees established Winton with approximately USD2million. Today, that figure stands at an incredible USD25.75billion. Before Winton, Harding was the H in AHL. Once AHL had been assumed into Man Group by 1994, Harding started Man Research before leaving in 1996. Winton Capital is now Europe’s largest CTA manager and the world’s fifth largest hedge fund firm.

The UCITS IV-compliant Dexia Long Short Credit fund launched in October 2009. The fund builds its long and short positions by screening for investment opportunities in the broad investment grade and high yield corporate bond markets of Europe and the US. The minimum high yield rating for net long credit exposure is B-. 

Kenneth Heinz (pictured) is President of Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research. Since it was established in 1992, HFR has become the standard bearer for indexation and cutting edge analysis of hedge funds, from strategy performance through to capital inflows and broad market dynamics.

Independently owned Meridian Fund Services administers funds across all hedge fund structures and private equity funds. At present, Meridian administrates approximately USD14billion in assets. It services 85 clients across 216 funds, which collectively have more than 5,650 separate investors.

Lyxor’s Managed Account Platform is the industry’s largest individual commingled managed account platform. With approximately 100 managers running a diverse range of hedge fund strategies, the Lyxor MAP is committed to providing its investors – fund-of-funds, pension funds, insurance companies – with access to a universe of best-in-class talent. 

Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets division is vast. It employs 6,000 professionals in 40 trading rooms across the globe, 18 of which are located in cities in Asia Pacific. Few prime brokers in the region can claim to have such a solid on the ground trading presence, giving hedge fund clients the speed of information and execution that’s critical for operational efficiency.

Newedge’s business is based on an agency model benefiting from joint ownership of two French banks, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole CIB. Newedge maintains membership to 60+ derivative and 23 commodity exchanges.

As one of Europe’s leading seeding platforms, the business objective of Amsterdam-based IMQubator is simple: putting investors in control when investing in hedge funds and delivering to them a multiple income stream by investing in emerging managers. Each manager receives a seed ticket of EUR25million, with IMQubator normally taking a 25 per cent equity stake in the management company.

Last year was a challenging market environment for all global exchanges with key interest rates falling to historic lows. Consequently, Deutsche Börse Group’s net revenues declined by 9 per cent to EUR1.932billion (compared to EUR2.121billion in 2011), while net interest income from the banking business decreased to EUR52.0million (EUR75.1million in 2011). Despite this, operating costs fell slightly year-on-year to EUR958.6million. Mainly because of lower net revenue, Deutsche Börse Group’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) declined to EUR969.4 million (EUR1.162billion in 2011).

This is the third consecutive year that Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP (“Anchin”) has won this award. According to Jeffrey Rosenthal, CPA, Partner-in-Charge of Anchin’s Financial Services Group, it’s no fluke: “I believe it reflects the level of commitment to service that we provide to our clients. We’re not commodity-driven. What sets us apart in auditing, tax, advisory services, and accounting, is our level of attention and high partner touch ratio. Our partners get to know the fund managers and their perspectives.” The Financial Services Group at Anchin launched more than 35 years ago and includes ten partners and more than 50 dedicated professionals. It works with over 350 hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity funds, funds-of-funds, master-feeder funds, broker/dealers and family offices.

Kinetic Partners is a leading provider of tailored consulting, advisory and assurance services to clients within the financial services industry. Since it was established in 2005, Kinetic has assembled a multidisciplinary team of industry experts drawn from regulators, financial institutions and asset management firms, as well as a host of other professional services firms. It currently services over 1,200 clients across eight global offices.

The signing of the JOBS Act in the US last year – expected to be fully enacted in 2013 – presents hedge fund managers with the opportunity to overtly develop their brand image and move past what has historically been an opaque image. That’s the view of Thomas Walek (pictured), Founder of Walek & Associates, winner in the Best North American PR Firm category.

Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP is one of New York’s leading boutique law firms. Co-founded by Michael Tannenbaum (pictured) in 1978, the firm blends a powerful mix of insight, industry expertise and creativity to support clients through challenges and opportunities. Delivering the highest quality legal services in a practical and efficient manner is one of the firm’s guiding principles.

London-based PR firm Peregrine Communications is one of Europe’s most successful specialist financial PR agencies. Established in 2003 by CEO Anthony Payne (pictured), Peregrine has built an award-winning reputation based on proven results and first-class client service.

Agecroft Partners specialises in consulting and third party marketing for hedge funds. Its objective: to raise assets globally for institutional-quality hedge fund managers by utilising a consultative approach within the institutional investor community.

Lockton is the world’s largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm. Clients across the globe count on Lockton for risk management and insurance services, and with recorded net revenues of USD 914.7million for 2012, those services appear to be paying dividends.