40 Henderson European Absolute Return Fund It is no surprise that John Bennett is showing what a capable manager he is in long/short. Over the last year what has impressed is the steady accumulation of absolute return.
39 Coupland Cardiff Japan Alpha Fund One of the best performers amongst UCITS hedge funds, the CC large cap Japan fund was up 47% in the last 12 months, and is up 17% in the first 6 weeks of this year. Only €2.2m in assets.
38 Turiya Capital More asset growth than returns for investors to date, but Davide Erro’s close to 2012 bodes well for better returns this year.
37 Meridian Capital Partners Meridian can be said to have got over being tained by Madoff expsoure. The New York based fund of funds has not allowed last years growth in AUM to stop it out-performing its peers – the Diversified Fund was up 10% in the last 12 months and the Horizon fund just short of that.
36 MLIS Och-Ziff European Multi-Strategy Fund Quality manager, quality platform, ability to deal, a decent sized hedge UCIT – what is not to like? Certainly not the excellent returns – up 12.53% over the last 12 months, and produced in a smooth progression like a diversified fund should do.
35 Alliance Bernstein US Thematic Fund AB’s $123m Thematic Fund certainly benefited in the last 12 months from the demographic, or technological innovation it seeks to exploit. Up 36% in the last 12 months, this is probably the best performing UCITS hedge fund managed by women.
34 Fortress Investment Group Like D.E. Shaw, the website of Fortress Investment Group is much more highly ranked for web traffic than suggested by the group’s hedge fund assets under management. By assets FIG is no.37, by activity on its web traffic it is 3rd.
33 It’s St.James’s Its not the Grosvenor estate, it’s not the City or Canary Wharf, and it is definiteley not Baker Street. The heart of the hedge fund industry in London and therefore Europe is the St.James’s area. This has been reinforced by the traders at Brevan Howard who told their bosses that the new HQ for the firm has to be in St.James’s for lifestyle reasons.
32 Schulte Roth & Zabel The seal on the commercial significance of the hedge fund practice at Schulte Roth came in the middle of last year when Nicholas Fagge and Kerrie Walsh were named partners in London.
31 Adage Capital Management Adage Capital has become the best rated hedge fund management company in II’s Alpha annual poll of investors, ascending from second place in 2011. Specifically Adage was rated significantly higher than its peer group on what was ranked as the most important factor in the rating process, namely alpha generation.
30 Prusik Asian Equity Income Fund The alternative UCITS format may have disappointed some investors with the return delivered, but not those investing in this Asia ex-Japan fund from Prusik Investment Management. This contender for equity fund of 2012 was up 38% last year.
29 J.P. Morgan As a hedge fund administrator, J.P.Morgan went from Commended in 2011 to globally Top Rated in 2012 amongst its hedge fund clients, and also achieved the same elevation from clients in Europe and North America in the Global Custodian Hedge Fund Administration Survey.
28 SS&C Technologies SS&C, the financial services software and software-enabled services provider, was in expansion mode recently, gobbling up PORTIA from Thomson Reuters, and GlobeOp, the middle and back office services/risk information provider. Net income was up 22% y-o-y in the 4Q 2012.
27 State Street Already the third largest administrator of hedge fund assets in the world, the acquisition of Goldman Sachs Fund Administration in combination with IFS makes State Street the coming force in fund administration.
26 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld The combination of newish arrivals Tim Pearce and Ian Meade and investment fund practice co-head Prakash Mehta has put Akin Gump are on an upward trajectory, confirmed by the recommendation for commercial awareness by hedge fund clients (Partners & Chambers)
25 D.E. Shaw The best recent multi-year turnaround of any major hedge fund firm. Two years ago hedge fund assets had fallen to $14bn, but are now back to $21bn and the firm is hiring. Oculus, its flagship macro fund, gained more than 20 percent last year.
24 GLG Market Neutral Fund Two out of the last three years have been very good for GLG’s flagship fund, and last year’s 18.4% is attracting attention.
23 CQS Not sitting back on his laurels Michael Hintze’s own fund, the CQS Directional Opportunities Fund made 35.86% last year and assets in the fund got to to $1.5 billion.
22 CCI Healthcare Partners Ltd. AUM in the Fund up by a third over the last year to three-quarters of a billion dollars, after the managers at Columbus Circle Investors put in a sixth straight up year with the Fund
21 Barnegat Fund Bob Treue’s fund was up 38.99% in the last 12 months to the end of Jan, and has increased AUM by over a third in a year. Not all investors have been put off by the leverage employed.
Great list! Thanks
Those trading against the london whale should be mentioned. Also see no reference to Paulson, which is not a bad thing.
The stellar returns often come from outsized bets that are difficult to repeat year after year. Must apply a strict quality filter to them.
Quite right there is no mention of Paulson, is there a ground on which he qualifies as hot?
On the London whale trade – it is not mentioned specifically, but I would like to think that some of the beneficiaries are in the Hot 100 somewhere.