Month in Review – April 2020

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic hedge funds rebounded from their worst month on record to notch their best month since the inception of the Nordic Hedge Index in 2005. Despite gaining 3.7 percent on average last month (91 percent reported), Nordic hedge funds are still in the red year-to-date, reflecting the market turmoil triggered by the coronavirus pandemic in the first quarter. Nordic hedge funds were down 3.6 percent in the first four months of 2020.

Month in Review – March 2020

All five strategy categories in the Nordic Hedge Index were in the green for April, with equity funds leading the gains. Nordic equity hedge funds gained 5.3 percent on average in April and enjoyed their best month on record after registering their worst month in March. In April, multi-strategy and fixed-income hedge funds gained 3.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Nordic CTAs, the only strategy category in the green year-to-date, were up 0.4 percent last month. Funds of hedge funds, meanwhile, advanced 2.1 percent last month.

There was wide dispersion in performance between last month’s best- and worst-performing members of the Nordic Hedge Index. In April, the top 20 percent of Nordic hedge funds gained 12.4 percent on average, whereas the bottom 20 percent lost 1.3 percent. In March, however, the top 20 percent was up 4.0 percent on average and the bottom 20 percent lost 16.1 percent on average. Only one in every eight members of the Nordic Hedge Index with reported April figures posted losses last month. One in every three Nordic hedge funds is in the green year-to-date.

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Equity hedge funds dominated last month’s list of best performers in the Nordic Hedge Index. Activist invest Accendo Capital, which maintains a focused portfolio of predominantly small- and mid-cap companies from Northern Europe, was last month’s best performer with a gain of 26.3 percent. Accendo was up 6.1 percent in the first four months of 2020. HCP Focus Fund, a long-only equity hedge fund maintaining a concentrated portfolio of businesses that mostly render digital services, was up 23.4 percent last month and 11.1 percent year-to-date through the end of April.

Danish long/short equity fund Symmetry Invest advanced 22.6 percent in April, recouping some of the sharp losses incurred in March. The fund is down 24.7 percent year-to-date through the end of April. Norwegian long/short equity fund Borea Global Equities was up 20.2 percent in April, taking the year-to-date losses to 1.5 percent. Pacific Precious, a multi-strategy hedge fund mainly investing in precious metals, gained 18.8 percent in April. The fund was up 2.8 percent in the first four months of 2020.

The Month in Review for April can be downloaded below:

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