Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Long-biased equity hedge funds may be grabbing the headlines with their high double-digit returns for 2021. In the lower risk, lower return corner of the hedge fund industry, Atlant Fonder’s less attention-grabbing market-neutral strategies are exceeding expectations year in and year out.
“Atlant Fonder had a successful 2021,” writes Michael Ekelund (pictured), Atlant Fonder’s CEO, in an update to investors. “Most of our funds delivered high risk-adjusted returns and all our market-neutral funds exceeded their return targets,” he continues. Atlant Fonder’s three market-neutral funds – Atlant Stability, Opportunity and Edge – account for about 87 percent of the asset manager’s assets under management. The “market-neutral” trio saw their combined assets under management increase from SEK 3.99 billion at the beginning of 2021 to SEK 6.24 billion at the end of the year.
“Most of our funds delivered high risk-adjusted returns and all our market-neutral funds exceeded their return targets.”
Atlant Opportunity, a SEK 4.4 billion fund that aims to generate an annual return that exceeds the yield on the 90-day Swedish treasury bills by at least five percent with low volatility, returned 6.7 percent in 2021. Last year’s return brings the fund’s annualized return to 5.7 percent since launching at the beginning of 2016. “Opportunity thus finished off the sixth consecutive year with a positive return, and the fund’s average return since inception is well above the average target return,” says Ekelund. Atlant Opportunity seeks to identify and capitalize on opportunities by investing in corporate bonds, index derivatives, equity derivatives, individual stocks, among other securities.
“Atlant Stability also deserves special mention The fund has now delivered a positive return for 14 years in a row, which no other Swedish fund has succeeded in doing.”
“Atlant Stability also deserves special mention,” continues Ekelund. “The fund has now delivered a positive return for 14 years in a row, which no other Swedish fund has succeeded in doing,” he emphasizes. Atlant Stability, the second-largest fund in terms of assets within Atlant Fonder’s fund range, booked a full-year gain of 3.5 percent for 2021 to bring its inception-to-date annualized return to 3.0 percent. Atlant Edge, a more offensive version of Opportunity, returned 19.2 percent last year after booking a gain of 18.0 percent in 2020.
“Edge celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, so of course, it feels extra fun to step into its anniversary year with a really strong return the previous year.”
All Atlant Fonder’s market-neutral funds advanced in 2021, with an exceptionally strong performance from Atlant Edge, which booked a gain of 10.5 percent in December alone. “The fund’s large advance last month was driven by the sharp revaluations of two of the fund’s shareholdings,” explains Ekelund. “Edge celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, so of course, it feels extra fun to step into its anniversary year with a really strong return the previous year,” he continues. “On an annual basis, all of our market-neutral funds, Edge, Opportunity and Stability, have exceeded their annual return targets,” says the CEO. “The generally strong fund performance, especially from Edge, meant that our multi-strategy fund, Atlant Multi-Strategy, had a positive end to the year and can thus add another strong year to its books.”
