Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Based on preliminary figures, the Nordic hedge fund industry is en route to reach its best annual performance in the past ten years. 2020 has also been a great year for hedge fund house Atlant Fonder.
“2020 was the best year in terms of returns for Atlant in a very long time,” Michael Ekelund (pictured), Atlant Fonder’s CEO, writes in an update to investors. “Several of the funds far exceeded their return targets,” he continues. Atlant Fonder currently oversees a suite of seven hedge funds, including the precious metals-focused hedge fund assimilated as part of the acquisition of Pacific Fonder.
“2020 was the best year in terms of returns for Atlant in a very long time. Several of the funds far exceeded their return targets.”
“One of the most remarkable results was delivered by the old faithful servant Atlant Edge with its rise of 18 percent,” says Ekelund. “In 2019, Atlant Edge returned to the market-neutral investment strategy the fund started with when launching in 2002, which bore fruit this year,” he adds. According to Ekelund, Atlant Edge “can be most easily described as an offensive version of Atlant Opportunity,” another market-neutral fund that can invest in corporate bonds, index derivatives, equity derivatives, individual stocks, among other securities.
“One of the most remarkable results was delivered by the old faithful servant Atlant Edge with its rise of 18 percent.”
“Atlant Protect also deserves a special mention,” Ekelund points out. Atlant Protect, a vehicle specifically designed to protect against market crashes, gained 9.2 percent in 2020 after advancing 4.3 percent in February and 0.3 percent in March. “The fund rose sharply in the stock market decline in the spring, and despite the subsequent stock market rise, even managed to outperform the OMXS30,” says Ekelund. “Not bad for a fund that particularly strives to create returns in declining markets.”
“Atlant Protect also deserves a special mention. Not bad for a fund that particularly strives to create returns in declining markets.”
Fund-of-funds Atlant Multi-Strategy and market-neutral vehicle Atlant Opportunity also managed to exceed their return targets in 2020. Atlant Multi-Strategy, crowned the “Best Nordic Fund of Hedge Funds” of 2019 at the Nordic Hedge Award, returned 6.6 percent last year, the fund’s best year on record. Atlant Opportunity, the largest fund in the Atlant family with over SEK 2 billion under management, advanced 5.9 percent in 2020, its fifth consecutive year of positive returns.
Atlant Stability, the asset manager’s second-largest fund with SEK 1.7 billion under management, returned 2.1 percent last year and reached its 12th consecutive year of positive returns. Atlant Stability, “which always prioritizes safety first, did not quite reach its return target during the tumultuous 2020,” acknowledges Ekelund. The low single-digit return, however, “can be considered to be within the framework of the fund’s investment philosophy.” Atlant Sharp, an equity-tilted hedge fund designed to provide exposure to equity markets at lower volatility, ended the year with a negative return of 3.4 percent. The fund “did not turn positions to a sufficient extent after the downturn this spring, and was thus outpaced by the Stockholm Stock Exchange.”
After gaining 8.5 percent in December and 13.7 percent for the year, Atlant Precious also enjoyed an outstanding 2020. Managed by Mattias Gromark, Atlant Precious seeks to provide exposure to the price development of precious metals by investing about half of its portfolio all over the precious metal universe and the other half in public companies active in the precious metal mining, exploration and streaming.
