Month in Review – December 2019

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic hedge funds ended 2019 at up 5.3 percent after gaining 0.9 percent on average in December (81 percent reported). The Nordic hedge fund industry, as measured by the Nordic Hedge Index, registered its strongest yearly performance in the past five years.

Four of the five strategy categories in the Nordic Hedge Index posted gains for December, with Nordic CTAs posting an estimated loss of 0.2 percent last month. For the year, Nordic CTAs gained 0.5 percent on average. Equity hedge funds led the gains last month with an average return of 1.2 percent, which brought the group’s full-year performance to 6.3 percent.

Multi-strategy funds, last year’s best-performing category in the Nordic Hedge Index with an average gain of 7.1 percent, were up 0.9 percent in December. Fixed-income funds, meanwhile, were up 0.5 percent last month, taking the group’s performance for last year to 5 percent. Funds of hedge funds gained an estimated 0.5 percent in December, ending the year in positive territory at 0.4 percent.

The dispersion between last month’s best- and worst-performing members of the Nordic Hedge Index decreased relative to the previous month. In December, the top 20 percent of Nordic hedge funds gained 3.7 percent on average, whereas the bottom 20 percent lost 1.4 percent. In the previous month, the top 20 percent was up 4.0 percent and the bottom 20 percent lost 1.4 percent. Two in every three members of the Nordic Hedge Index posted gains last month.

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Equity hedge funds dominated last month’s list of best performers in the Nordic Hedge Index, with Proxy Renewable Long/Short Energy topping the table. The long-biased long/short equity fund focused on the renewable and energy tech sectors gained 7.5 percent in December, and ended the year up 45.9 percent. Market-neutral fund DNB ECO Absolute Return gained 6.6 percent last month, trimming the fund’s losses for 2019 to 15 percent.

Pacific Precious, a multi-strategy hedge fund seeking exposure to precious metals, gained 6.6 percent last month and returned 23.6 percent for the full year. Activist invest Accendo gained 5.8 percent last month and ended the year up 45.6 percent. Rhenman Healthcare Equity L/S, meanwhile, ended 2019 up 40.1 percent after gaining 5.1 percent in December.

The Month in Review for December can be downloaded below:

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