investhedge AWARDS 2009
Survival of the fittest to be
rewarded at the Awards
InvestHedge unveils nominations for the eighth annual black tie
fund of funds event in New York
The initial nominations for the eighth annual
InvestHedge Fund of Hedge Funds Awards din-
ner are unveiled. The black tie evening, which
will be held at The Pierre in New York on
Thursday 11 March 2010, will mix one year
with longer term performance awards.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the cer-
emony comes at a time when the funds of
funds universe returned a healthy 9.21% in
2009, albeit on a reduced asset base.
Ironically, the frauds of the last two years
have bolstered the argument for well-run
funds of funds. This year the ceremony will
only look at performance-related awards based
on data submitted on a monthly basis to the
InvestHedge database, which tracks 2,562 ac-
tive funds of funds run by 727 management
companies globally.
Investors are concerned about side pocketed
or illiquid assets, and funds that are a long
way from their high water mark. For this rea-
son, InvestHedge is adding a new criterion to
the methodology, which is that a fund of
funds has to be within 10% of its high water
mark.
Despite an environment that has seem some
brand names taken out of action and other
firms merging with former rivals, the initial
nominees are a reassuring line up of familiar
names, such as Archstone Partners, Edmond
de Rothschild, RBS’s Orbita funds, GAM, RMF
Investments, Aurora Investment Manage-
ment, Lighthouse, Permal and Pictet, that
have been nominated, and in many cases won,
year after year.
As with all industries that are still evolving
there are some solid newer nominees, such as
Kairos Partners (see profile page 28), Magni-
tude Capital and Culross Global.
26 February 2010
26-27_IH_0210_IH Awards.indd 26
End investors now want more information
and transparency on their funds of funds: his-
tory, performance, news analysis, all of which
boost the importance of the annual In-
vestHedge Awards. This event is the only glo-
bal fund of hedge funds awards ceremony
where the winners are picked on the basis of
their risk-adjusted returns and not a subjective
selection committee.
Each year, InvestHedge tries to understand the
needs of the investors and accommodate these
in the methodology of the InvestHedge Fund
of Hedge Funds Awards. This year, InvestHedge
is going back to the one-year risk-adjusted
fund of hedge funds performance for the ma-
jority of the 20 awards. But, in addition to the
two long-term performance awards over 10
years, InvestHedge has added three-year awards,
in line with end investor preferences, in the
three global multi-strategy categories.
Last year, despite a lot of negative returns,
the event, which gathers the global fund of
funds industry from Europe, Asia and the US
in one room, still attracted more than 300 peo-
ple and some 50 funds of funds with com-
bined assets of $250 billion. The previous year,
more than 400 people, including representa-
tives for 70 funds of funds with combined as-
sets of $508 billion, gathered in one room.
The full list of nominations for the
InvestHedge Awards, based on full-year data to
December 2009, will be added online later this
month and published in the March edition of
InvestHedge.
To qualify, funds must submit performance
data to the InvestHedge database and has a
12-month track record with no pro-forma
data. The only exception is for New Fund of
the Year, where we only require a minimum
six-month track record. For this award, funds
launched during the 18 months prior to the
event will be considered, taking into account
their whole performance history to date.
Before the final list of nominees is pub-
lished, the hedge funds must also provide a
strategy allocation breakdown for each fund
nominated, as well as be able to explain how
they calculated the NAVs on illiquid or side-
pocketed asserts. For the full nomination crite-
ria please go to the website www.hedgefund-
intelligence.com/events
As in previous years, the InvestHedge Awards
will be a black tie event. It will start at 6pm with
a canapé and cocktail networking reception
that makes an ideal place for hedge fund man-
agers to meet their global investors in a relaxed
atmosphere. Dinner will follow at 7.15pm, with
the presentation of the InvestHedge Funds of
Hedge Funds Awards – starting during dessert.
Following the Awards presentation there will be
an open bar, enabling guests to continue to
catch up with their peers and clients.
© InvestHedge
01/02/2010 16:06