Month in Review – November 2021

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic hedge funds trimmed their year-to-date advance after booking an average loss of 0.6 percent in November (89 percent reported). The Nordic hedge fund industry, as reflected by the Nordic Hedge Index, is up 4.4 percent in 2021, with only one month left until the end of the year.

Four of the five strategy categories within the Nordic Hedge Index incurred losses last month, with funds of hedge funds ending the month in the green for a tenth consecutive month. Funds of funds edged up an estimated 0.1 percent in November to extend their year-to-date advance to 6.0 percent. Nordic CTAs fell by 1.7 percent in November, ending the first 11 months of this year up 0.5 percent. Equity hedge funds, the strongest performing strategy category within the Nordic Hedge Index this year, were down 0.7 percent on average in November to trim the year-to-date advance to 7.6 percent. Fixed-income and multi-strategy hedge funds were down about 0.5 percent in November, with fixed-income managers now essentially flat for the year. Multi-strategy managers are up 4.7 percent in the first 11 months of the year.

At a country level, Norwegian and Danish hedge funds incurred the largest losses in November, with Norwegian managers ending the month down 1.2 percent and Danish managers down 1.1 percent. The Norwegian hedge fund industry gained 8.5 percent in the first 11 months of this year, while Danish hedge funds were up 3.2 percent in the same period. Swedish hedge funds, which account for the largest portion of the Nordic hedge fund industry, are up 3.1 percent this year after incurring an average loss of 0.2 percent last month. Finnish hedge funds were flat to marginally negative in November, with their year-to-date advance reaching 8.1 percent.

The dispersion between last month’s best- and worst-performing members of the Nordic Hedge Index narrowed month-over-month. In November, the top 20 percent of Nordic hedge funds gained 2.6 percent on average, while the bottom 20 percent lost 4.6 percent. In October, the top 20 percent were up 5.7 percent and the bottom 20 percent were down 4.2 percent. About 44 percent of the funds with reported November figures in the Nordic Hedge Index reported gains for last month.

Top Performers in November

Nordic-focused activist investor Accendo Capital was last month’s best-performing member of the Nordic Hedge Index with a monthly advance of 8.0 percent, which brought its year-to-date performance to 56.8 percent. Accendo has taken the lead in the table of this year’s best-performing Nordic hedge funds. Nordea’s Alpha 15 MA Fund, the fund with the highest risk-return profile in Nordea’s Alpha family, gained 4.3 percent last month to extend its year-to-date performance through the end of November to 11.9 percent.

Norron Asset Management’s long/short equity fund Norron Select booked a monthly gain of 4.3 percent in November, which brought the fund’s 2021 performance back into positive territory at 2.0 percent. Launched in March this year, technical analysis-focused Paleo Fund advanced 4.2 percent in November to trim its inception-to-date decline to 2.0 percent. Nordic Cross Small Cap Edge, a small-cap-focused long/short equity fund run by the team at Nordic Cross Asset Management, gained 3.4 percent last month to bring its 2021 performance further in positive territory at 8.6 percent.

The Month in Review for November 2021 can be downloaded below: