Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – With Intelligence has unveiled the list of shortlisted funds for the HFM European Awards 2023, with this year’s list featuring a lower-than-usual representation of Nordic hedge funds. Borea Asset Management, Oslo Asset Management, Sissener and Svelland Capital are the Nordic fund managers whose funds have earned nominations for these awards.
The With Intelligence HFM European Performance Awards aim to recognize and reward the highest achieving hedge funds, CTAs, and funds of hedge funds in Europe. The winners of the 2023 HFM European Performance Awards will be officially revealed on October 12 in London. The winners are determined by a panel of judges consisting of institutional and private investors, as well as investment consultants. The judging criteria encompass various factors, including absolute performance, standard deviation of returns and outperformance relative to a relevant benchmark index. The judges also take into consideration relative assets under management, three and five-year track records, the nature of investment strategies, other supporting materials and professional knowledge about shortlisted funds.
Borea Asset Management
Borea Asset Management, a boutique fund manager based in Bergen, has earned two nominations at the HFM European Awards 2023. Borea Høyrente, their longest-running and largest fund, has been shortlisted in the “Credit – long-term performance (5 years)” category. Borea Høyrente specializes in exploiting the “credit spread puzzle,” a phenomenon where relatively safe companies (BB-rated equivalents) have to pay a higher credit spread on their loans than can be justified by expected losses and other factors. Since its inception in early 2012, the fund has delivered an annualized return of 7.7 percent and is enjoying its ninth consecutive year of positive performance.
Borea’s Kreditt, which employs a similar strategy to Borea Høyrente but focuses on higher risk-reward opportunities in issues below NOK 500 million, has been nominated in the “Credit – newcomer” category. Launched in late 2021, Borea Kreditt has generated an annualized return of 9.7 percent in the two years since its inception.
OAM and Sissener
OAM Absolute Return Fund and Sissener Canopus have both been shortlisted in the “Global equity under $500m” category. OAM Absolute Return has also been shortlisted in the “Global equity long-term performance (5 years)” category. OAM Absolute Return, an Oslo-based energy-focused long/short equity fund, enjoying solid performance so far in 2023 with a 27.4 percent gain over the first eight months of the year. This year’s return follows gains of 27.5 percent in 2022, 45.1. percent in 2021 and 50.1 percent in 2020.
Sissener Canopus, another Norwegian equity long/short strategy, has also enjoyed a solid performance in recent years, having delivered an annualized 5.7 percent in the past five years. In 2022, Sissener Canopus had a particularly successful year, recording a gain of 8.2 percent. While in most years Sissener Canopus primarily operates as a long equity fund with variable hedges and derivatives, 2022 proved to be the best-ever year for the single stock shorts, which contributed to its overall return with a 7.9 percent gain.
Furthermore, two Nordic funds that are not part of the Nordic Hedge Index have been shortlisted in the “Ucits – credit” category at the 2023 HFM European Performance Awards. Sissener’s second fund, Sissener Corporate Bond Fund, will compete with another Norwegian high-yield bond fund Storm Bond Fund for the title in this category. Sissener Corporate Bond Fund has gained 7.6 percent so far in 2023, similar to the 7.4 percent return achieved by Storm Bond Fund.
Svelland Global Trading Fund
Svelland Global Trading Fund, a commodities-focused hedge fund run by founder and CIO Tor Svelland with the support of portfolio managers Andreas Mattsson and Ara Levonian, has been shortlisted in the “Commodities fund” award category. Svelland Global Trading Fund was recognized as the “Best Nordic Hedge Fund Overall” for 2022 at the Nordic Hedge Award at the beginning of the year and was the industry’s best-performing fund in 2022 with a return of about 47 percent.
The fund advanced a further 6.7 percent in the first eight months of 2023. Operating under a fundamental, absolute return trading strategy focused on commodity investing, Svelland Global Trading Fund has achieved the highest performance among Nordic hedge funds over the past six years with an annualized return of approximately 24 percent.
