Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After a difficult end to the third quarter, Nordic hedge funds are enjoying a strong fourth quarter. The Nordic hedge fund industry as measured by the Nordic Hedge Index booked an average gain of 1.2 percent in November following an advance of 1.5 percent in October, trimming the year-to-date decline to 5.9 percent.
Month in Review – November 2022
Trend-following CTAs, this year’s top-performing strategy group in the Nordic Hedge Index, gave up some of their earlier gains in November to end the first 11 months of the year up 5.0 percent. After a difficult first three quarters in 2022, fixed-income funds gained 3.1 percent on average in November amid a robust recovery in bond markets in general. The group is down 9.2 percent year-to-date with one month to the end of 2022. Equity-focused funds advanced 1.4 percent in November to trim their 2022 decline to 4.3 percent, while multi-strategy funds are down 7.6 percent in 2022 after edging up 0.3 percent last month. Funds of hedge funds, on the other hand, edged down 0.3 percent in November to bring their year-to-date decline to 0.8 percent.
At a country level, the Danish hedge fund industry dominated by fixed-income strategies gained the most in November for a second consecutive month. Danish funds are down 11.4 percent in 2022 after gaining 2.6 percent in November. Norwegian hedge funds entered positive territory for the year after advancing 1.5 percent last month. Finnish funds, on the other hand, extended their 2022 decline to 10.0 percent after incurring an average loss of 0.4 percent in November. Swedish hedge funds, which account for the largest portion of the Nordic hedge fund industry, edged up 0.6 percent in November to cut their 2022 decline to 3.1 percent.
The performance dispersion between last month’s best- and worst-performing members of the Nordic Hedge Index remained broadly unchanged month-over-month. In November, the top 20 percent of Nordic hedge funds advanced 6.2 percent and the bottom 20 percent lost 3.7 percent, representing a top-to-bottom dispersion of 9.9 percent versus 10.1 percent in the prior month. In October, the top 20 percent were up 7.9 percent and the bottom 20 percent were down 2.2 percent. Two in every three members of the Nordic Hedge Index with reported November figures posted gains last month.
Top Performers in November
Atlas Global Macro, a themes-focused global macro fund run by Lars Tvede and Jakob Due, was last month’s best-performing player in the Nordic Hedge Index universe with an advance of 12.5 percent. Last month’s gain trimmed Atlas Global Macro’s year-to-date decline to below 30 percent, which partly reflects a large allocation to Russian assets that had been written down to zero.
Danske Invest Fixed Income Global Value, one of the fixed-income hedge funds under the umbrella of Danske Bank Asset Management, followed suit with a 12.4 percent gain in November. The fund is down 16 percent with one month to the end of 2022. Danske Bank’s two other fixed-income hedge funds, Danske Invest Fixed Income Relative Value and Danske Invest Hedge Fixed Income Strategies, also made November’s list of top performers after advancing 9.2 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively. Nykredit’s fixed-income EVIRA Hedge Fund gained 8.6 percent to trim its 2022 decline to 16.7 percent.
*November return not reported and reflected yet.
Proxy Renewable Long/Short Energy Fund booked a monthly gain of 10.8 percent in November to extend its year-to-date advance to 32.5 percent. Proxy P’s energy transition-focused fund is among the top five best-performing Nordic hedge funds in 2022. Tor Svelland’s long/short equities- and commodities-focused Svelland Global Trading Fund has taken the top spot in this year’s list of best-performing Nordic hedge funds. The fund gained an estimated 5.1 percent in November to bring its return in 2022 to 45.2 percent.
The Month in Review for November 2022 can be downloaded below:
