The Waha MENA Equity Fund, the flagship fund of Abu Dhabi-based investment management company Waha Capital PJSC has been ranked in 15th spot in the latest survey of the world’s top hedge funds by veteran New York-based financial analyst, Eric Uhlfelder.
The fund has climbed seven spots in this year’s Global Investment Report rankings and is the only MENA-based hedge fund to feature in the top 50.
Since its inception in 2014, the Waha MENA Equity Fund has yielded a cumulative return of 280.6% (as of 31 August 2022), equivalent to an annualised net rate of return of 16.7%. In comparison, the reference S&P Pan Arab Composite Index provided a cumulative return of 75.6%, equivalent to an annualised rate of return of 6.7%. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty and strong headwinds in global capital markets, the Fund continues its solid track record of consistent outperformance, returning 12.61% year-to-date, against the reference S&P Pan Arab Composite Index which has returned 7.2%.
Taking a diversified investment approach, the Waha MENA Equity Fund invests primarily across nine countries in the MENA region, from Morocco through to Oman. The Fund’s consistent performance is underpinned by Waha Capital’s strong research capabilities, that combine top-down macroeconomic views with bottom-up company analyses in constructing and managing the portfolio.
The 50 funds featured in the survey are required to manage at least US$300 million to ensure reliability of the data. A key component of the robust assessment methodology for determining the ranking, is the performance hurdles set for each of the past four years over a trailing five-year returns period, to determine which funds are among the most consistent absolute return funds that consider downside risk. This approach eliminates highly volatile funds with fluctuating performance from one year to the next, prioritising superior long-term strategies over short-term opportunism.
