Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Around this time last year, only three Norwegian hedge funds returned from London with trophies from the HFM European Performance Awards, organized by With Intelligence. This year, the list of winners has expanded to include Norwegian, Danish and Swedish managers.

The unveiling of the 2024 HFM European Performance Awards winners took place at the Natural History Museum in London on October 10. This event aims to recognize and celebrate top-performing European hedge funds, funds of hedge funds and CTAs. Nordic hedge fund managers secured victories in six of the 43 categories, with winners selected by a panel of institutional and private investors, along with investment consultants. Judging criteria included absolute performance, volatility of returns, outperformance relative to benchmarks, and other factors such as assets under management, longer-term track records, the nature of investment strategies, and expert insights.

Newcomers: Othania and Borea

Othania Globale Aktier, an equity-focused fund that switches its portfolio from “offensive” ETFs to more “defensive” equity ETFs during periods of heightened market risk, won the “Newcomer – equity” category at last week’s HFM European Performance Awards. Managed by Danish fund boutique Othania, the fund relies on a proprietary “Tiger” model that evaluates market risk monthly, using indicators such as economic activity, interest rates, and stock market trends.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the trip to the UK, but Thursday night we received the fantastic news from London that Othania Globale Aktier won in the ‘Newcomer – Equity’ category,” shared Christian Mørup-Larsen, co-founder of Othania.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the trip to the UK, but Thursday night we received the fantastic news from London that Othania Globale Aktier won in the ‘Newcomer – Equity’ category.”

Christian Mørup-Larsen, co-founder of Othania.

Borea Kreditt, which follows a high-yield-focused strategy similar to Borea’s flagship fund – Borea Høyrente, took home the award for “Credit – Newcomer” for the second year in a row. Both Borea Kreditt and Borea Høyrente seek to capitalize on the ‘credit spread puzzle,’ where relatively safe companies (BB-rated equivalents) pay a higher credit spread than justified by their expected losses and other risk factors. Borea Kreditt targets higher risk-reward opportunities in issues below NOK 500 million. Launched in late 2021, Borea Kreditt has generated an annualized return of 11.26 percent in the three years since its inception.

Lynx Constellation Earns Double Honors

Lynx Asset Management’s machine learning-driven Constellation strategy secured two awards at the 2024 HFM European Performance Awards, winning in both the “Managed Futures (CTA) under $1 billion” and “Quantitative Strategy under $1 billion” categories. “Winning these awards reflects our team’s commitment and the innovative strategies we’ve developed at Lynx,” says Lynx’s CIO, David Jansson. “We appreciate the support of the judging panel, which includes prominent CIOs and directors from the investment community.”

“Winning these awards reflects our team’s commitment and the innovative strategies we’ve developed at Lynx.”

David Jansson, CIO at Lynx Asset Management.

Lynx Asset Management introduced its first machine learning model in the Lynx Program in 2011 and implemented over a dozen more before the launch of Lynx Constellation in October 2019. Following a challenging year in 2021, Lynx Constellation delivered impressive returns of 18.4 percent in 2022 and an additional 10.5 percent in the difficult environment for traditional trend-followers of 2023. The strategy gained a further 6.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2024.

Developed by Lynx’s large team of researchers, Lynx Constellation employs systematic models utilizing a range of machine learning techniques to build forecasting models designed to detect and exploit inefficiencies in the most liquid futures markets. These models capitalize on investor tendencies, behavioral biases like herding, and recurring price patterns influenced by external factors such as seasonality. “As markets evolve, we remain committed to refining our models and advancing our strategies, ensuring that we stay at the forefront of quantitative investing,” David concludes.

Rhenman & Partners: Best in Over $500 million category

One of the largest long/short equity funds in the Nordic hedge fund industry, Rhenman Healthcare Equity L/S, won the “Global equity over $500 million” category. Specializing in the healthcare sector, the fund manages €845 million in assets as of the end of September.

Under the guidance of founder and CIO Henrik Rhenman, who has led the fund since its inception in mid-2009, Rhenman Healthcare Equity L/S has delivered an annualized return of 16.8 percent for the share class reflected in the Nordic Hedge Index. The fund has gained 19.2 percent in the first nine months of 2024, placing it among the top-performing Nordic hedge funds this year.

A repeat of Last Year: Svelland and OAM

Both Svelland Global Trading Fund and OAM Absolute Return Fund repeated their success from last year’s HFM European Performance Awards. Svelland Global Trading Fund, run by Tor Svelland and his team, won the “Commodities Fund” category for the second consecutive year. 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 five years with an annualized return of about 34 percent.

OAM Absolute Return Fund, managed by Harald James Otterhaug, clinched an award for “Global Equity Long-Term Performance (5 years).” Despite generating nearly 30 percent annually over the past five years, the energy-focused long/short equity fund has faced challenges attracting new investor inflows after a significant drawdown in 2018-2019. Otterhaug has since decided to close the fund after managing it for nearly two decades.