Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Two Nordic hedge funds have received several 2019 Lipper Fund Awards outside the Nordics for outstanding fund performance. The winners of this year’s Lipper Fund Awards for the Nordic region are yet to be announced.
Nordea 1 – Alpha 10 MA Fund, which uses a multi-asset approach to harvest different risk premia, was recognized as the best fund over three years in Lipper’s EUR-denominated high-risk “Absolute Return” category in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Austria. DNB TMT Absolute Return, another member of the Nordic Hedge Index, was named the best fund over three years in the “Alternative Long/Short Equity Global” category in Switzerland.
The Lipper Fund Awards from Refinitiv, formerly known as Thomson Reuters, aim to recognize funds and fund management companies for consistent strong risk-adjusted performance relative to industry peers. The winners are selected based solely on quantitative criteria. Funds registered for sale in a respective country or region qualify for each region’s Lipper Fund Awards and only funds with track records of at least 36 months compete for the awards.
Managed by Nordea’s multi-asset team led by Asbjørn Trolle Hansen, Nordea 1 – Alpha 10 MA Fund earned a cumulative 13 percent in the past 36 months through the end of February. The multi-asset vehicle employs six independent strategies, four of which focus on harvesting risk-on and risk-off premia. One of the four seeks to harvest the quality premium in equity markets, which tends to perform well in a risk-off environment. This strategy also aims to collect the value premium that tends to exhibit more correlation with equity markets and perform well in a risk-on environment. The other two strategies are designed to harvest directional premia. Nordea 1 – Alpha 10 MA Fund aims to generate an average annual return between five and seven percent gross of fees over a full investment cycle.
DNB TMT Absolute Return, a market-neutral equity fund managed by Anders Tandberg-Johansen, Sverre Bergland and Erling Thune (pictured), delivered an annualized return of 3.4 percent since launching in November of 2011. The fund strives to be truly market-neutral by maintaining a zero-beta portfolio consisting of companies within the global telecom, media and technology sectors. DNB TMT Absolute Return, overseeing €408.6 million in assets under management as of the end of February, did present evidence of its neutrality to market risk last year after gaining three percent in October alone and 2.5 percent for the year.