Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After enjoying two years of solid performance, Nordic fixed-income hedge funds are having a tough time so far this year. The NHX Fixed Income was flat in August (97 percent reported), with the NHX sub-category still hovering around its all-time high despite returning only 1.1 percent year-to-date.

Global fixed-income hedge funds are not performing much stronger than their Nordic peers this year. The Eurokahedge Fixed Income Hedge Fund Index, which tracks the performance of 344 fixed-income hedge funds, was down 0.4 percent in August, taking the year-to-date performance to 0.9 percent. The HFN Fixed Income Index (non-arbitrage), composed of fixed-income vehicles in eVestment’s hedge fund database, declined 0.1 percent last month. The HFN index gained 1.3 percent in the first eight months of 2018.

More than half of the vehicles included in the NHX Fixed Income ended the month of August in the green. Asgard Fixed Income Risk Premia, which searches for relative-value fixed-income investment opportunities in European markets, performed the best of all Nordic fixed-income managers last month with a gain of 1.1 percent. The fund managed by Danish investment manager Moma Advisors is down 0.4 percent this year through August.

Borea European Credit is currently the best performing member of the NHX Fixed Income in 2018 after gaining 1.1 percent in August and 5.0 percent year-to-date. This year’s relatively strong performance for the Norwegian-based hedge fund managing NOK 1.86 billion follows two years of even stronger performance. The fund gained 15.7 percent last year and 10.9 percent in 2016.

Nykredit EVIRA Hedge Fund, a sister fund of successful relative-value fund Nykredit MIRA, has been navigating difficult times so far in 2018. The hedge fund focusing on European corporate bond markets was down 3.4 percent in August, bringing the year-to-date performance further into negative territory at minus 7.9 percent.

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