The Hedgeweek Global Awards 2019 for excellence among hedge fund managers and service providers celebrate the achievements of firms that contributed to another significant year for the sector.

As transparency and communication continue to be salient topics of discussion for alternative investment managers, DMS Governance spent 2018 delivering high quality services across a diverse range of investment structures and strategies.

The ability to deliver compelling alpha to hedge fund investors gets ever harder but those who bring a disciplined, resilient approach to their investment strategies, and stick to their convictions, stand out from the crowd. And what a crowd it is, with more than 10,000 hedge funds in the marketplace. 

Cyber security is a relatively new compliance requirement in the investment management space. Align sees cyber security as a multi-factorial phenomenon and thus its team takes a multi-disciplinary approach to providing comprehensive solutions to the cyber security challenges investment managers face day-to-day, as well as within the context of their capital raising, ODD and compliance activities.

CVC Credit Partners was established in 2005 and runs approximately USD20.2 billion across three core strategy areas: performing credit (USD15.3 billion), credit opportunities and special situations (USD3.3 billion) and private debt (USD1.6 billion). 

Client needs are the keystone of the way RFA does business. Managing Director George Ralph explains how the firm designs solutions at the point of engagement with the client, rather than packaging or pushing products which may not always be fit for purpose.

Lutetia Capital was founded in 2009 by Jean-François Comte (CIO) and Fabrice Seiman (CEO) and across its two offices in Paris and London the team manages approximately USD1.1 billion in assets. 

Last year was one of smooth transition for MacMillan Communications as Chris Sullivan took the helm as President of the firm, after having worked there for 13 years. “This was part of a well thought out succession plan that myself and the firm’s founder, Mike MacMillan, had been talking about for around five years," Sullivan says.

Pillar Capital Management (Pillar) was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Bermuda. The firm manages open-ended Bermuda incorporated funds invested in the global property catastrophe risk market. 

As the financial industry is inundated with data on a daily basis, having an intuitive and efficient way of visualising this data and maximising analysis and insight becomes ever more important.

The firm behind this year’s best UCITS liquid alternatives platform, ML Capital, is undergoing a rebrand and as of March 2019 will be known as MontLake. “After extensive research, we recognised that the marketplace knows the company more prominently as MontLake through our award-winning platform, rather than as ML Capital. After much deliberation, we have decided to change our name,” says Cyril Delamare, CEO of MontLake.

Strong client relationships sit at the core of law firm Sadis & Goldberg. Founded in 1997, the firm is comprised of senior attorneys who demonstrate vast levels of training and proven track records of professionalism, skill and diligence.

The market volatility which re-emerged in 2018 has played out well for hedge funds, due to their ability to be more nimble. In this environment, SS&C GlobeOp has met the demands of the sector by providing a holistic technology platform that meets present and future needs as fund managers look to make their internal operations more efficient and robust.

Agecroft has changed the model of hedge fund third party marketing,” says Don Steinbrugge, Agecroft Partners Founder and CEO. “Most third-party marketing models are based on leveraging personal relationships and doing extensive entertaining. Ours has been to build a global brand with a reputation as an industry thought leader, strong institutional investment knowledge and representing very high quality managers.” 

Last year Opus Fund Services successfully rolled out its automated NAV calculation system called JET. The firm started building JET in 2017 but 2018 saw the system go live and CEO Robin Bedford believes it has the potential to change the industry forever.

During 2018 UMB Fund Services continued to see growth in liquid alternatives and was able to further solidify its position as a leading administrator for registered alternative products. Over the course of the year the firm successfully partnered with clients to bring to the marketplace complex and innovative registered products, such as unlisted closed-end funds (also known as interval or tender-offer funds), as interest in these products continues to grow. 

Invast Global aims to provide clients with flexibility and focus. This year’s best specialist market prime broker aims to tailor its offering to the needs of its clients. According to chief executive officer Gavin White it’s this willingness to bend for the client that the large Tier One primes can’t compete with in the current environment.

This year’s best outsourced trading provider succeeded in keeping its ship steady and maintaining a high level of client service through the financial market turbulence experienced early and late in the year. This, according to Jack Seibald (pictured), managing director and global co-head, prime brokerage & outsourced trading, was one of Cowen Prime Services’s best achievements over the course of the year.

Last year marked a strong year for BNY Mellon’s HedgeMark business. The firm ended the year with 105 dedicated managed accounts (DMAs). Crossing the 100 DMA milestone has set the pace for the firm’s trajectory for growth. In 2018, HedgeMark also won a number of institutional mandates from large global clients and saw its platform assets increase by more than USD4 billion.

AlternativeSoft is a multi-award-winning quantitative analytics software specialising in asset selection, portfolio construction and customised reporting. It is the only analytical tool on the market that allows users to build and manage a universe with data easily imported from any source including Bloomberg, Morningstar, Albourne, HFR, EurekaHedge, HFM, Preqin and many more.

As asset managers continue broaden their investment ranges and allocate more to alternative and esoteric asset classes, Geneva by SS&C Advent has been ready and present to meet the demand these developments are creating.

This year’s best global accounting firm EisnerAmper LLP makes sure it keeps in close contact with clients throughout the year in its efforts to bring exceptional service and provide advice on a timely basis.

In asset driven organisations, such as hedge fund and private equity firms, efficient and productive operations are critical, both on a daily basis and over time.