The Hedgeweek USA Awards 2011 for excellence among hedge fund managers and service providers have honoured the US industry’s best performers and their ability to demonstrate consistency and depth of expertise against the backdrop of a more complex, but also potentially more rewarding, investment climate. 

By Simon Gray – The hedge fund sector in the United States, its cradle and still by a long way its biggest and most important centre, has emerged successfully from the crisis that beset the global financial industry between 2007 and 2009. As Global Fund Media publisher Sunil Gopalan commented at the Hedgeweek USA Awards 2011 in New York on June 16: “These awards celebrate the way in which hedge fund investment advisers and service providers have led the US industry out of the crisis through their expertise, innovation and adaptability.”

Admiral Administration is one of the world’s leading hedge fund administrators. Headed by Canover Watson in the Cayman Islands, the firm also has offices in Ireland and the US, from where a combined staff of more than 110 professionals, including 60 qualified accountants, provides independent administration support.

Winner of this year’s Hedgeweek USA Award for Best Event-Driven Manager is Stamford, Connecticut-based investment adviser FrontFour Capital Group. Co-founders David A Lorber (pictured) and Zachary R George alongside partner Stephen E Loukas co-manage the firm’s flagship fund, FrontFour Capital Partners LP.

New York-based Rothstein Kass started life more than 50 years ago as a boutique accounting firm and has since gone on to become ranked as one of the alternative industry’s top CPA firms. As well as tax, auditing and accountancy services, the firm’s Financial Services Group supports clients across all stages of organisational development.

Sadis & Goldberg is one of New York’s leading law firms and its financial services practice enjoys an international reputation. The Financial Services Group is made up of a team of seasoned legal professionals who routinely handle a diverse range of enquiries across the investment universe, providing legal counsel to several hundred investment advisers, broker-dealers and commodity pool operators that sponsor, manage and advise hedge funds, private equity and venture capital funds and separately managed accounts.

Toronto-based Third Eye Capital originates and manages privately-negotiated secured loans to predominantly Canadian small- to mid-cap companies. The firm was established in 2005 by Arif N Bhalwani (pictured) and Dr David G Alexander, who together have more than 50 years’ private market investing experience.

The Hedgeweek USA Award 2011 for Best PR Firm is the latest recognition of Walek & Associates’ dozen years of work successfully managing visibility, reputation and brand for hedge funds around the world.

Wolverine Asset Management is a US-based alternative asset management firm and part of the Wolverine family of companies, a diversified group of affiliated financial service entities primarily engaged in asset management, derivatives trading, order routing and technology/software development.

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