Nordic hedge funds continued their strong run of performance since May, advancing an additional 1.7 percent on average in September – the industry’s second-best month this year. Following their best annual performance since 2009 last year, the Nordic hedge fund industry is now on track for another solid year in 2025, with a 6.7 percent gain in the first three quarters.
All strategy categories in the Nordic Hedge Index delivered positive results in September, led by CTAs, which benefited from a strong trend environment after a more challenging period earlier in the year. Systematic trend-following CTAs, macro, and managed futures funds gained 2.5 percent on average in September, narrowing their year-to-date decline to 3.9 percent. Diversified strategies – spanning multi-asset, multi-strategy, and niche approaches – also performed well, rising 2.0 percent in September and bringing their year-to-date advance to 6.2 percent.
Equity long/short managers, the best-performing strategy group in the Nordic Hedge Index this year, gained 1.7 percent in September, lifting their year-to-date return to 9.0 percent – already surpassing the full-year advance recorded in 2024. Long-only equity managers, tracked separately from the Nordic Hedge Index, also enjoyed a strong month, gaining 3.2 percent on average in September and extending their year-to-date performance to 11.8 percent. Fixed-income hedge funds edged up 0.8 percent in September, ending the first three quarters of 2025 up 8.2 percent. Meanwhile, multi-manager funds added 1.2 percent in September, bringing their 2025 performance to 3.2 percent.
Performance dispersion widened during the month, as top performers significantly outpaced laggards. The top 20 percent of constituents gained 6.4 percent on average, compared to a 1.1 percent loss for the bottom 20 percent. This marked a notable improvement from August, when the top quintile advanced 3.6 percent and the bottom quintile fell 2.7 percent. Overall, 82 percent of reporting funds posted gains in September, with a slightly higher 83 percent in positive territory year to date.
Best Performing Nordic Hedge Funds in September and Year-to-Date
Among individual performers, Accendo Capital topped the charts in September with a 22.6 percent gain. With a highly concentrated portfolio of just six holdings, a single standout performer can make a major impact. A sharp rise in the share price of Finnish cybersecurity firm SSH Communications Security more than offset weakness elsewhere, lifting Accendo Capital’s year-to-date gain to 22 percent (read more).
Opportunistic hedge fund Pensum Global Opportunities followed with a 14.8 percent gain in September, its best monthly result since inception. The fund is now up 29.3 percent year-to-date, ranking as the third-best performing Nordic hedge fund this year (read more). Proxy Renewable Long/Short Energy also extended its strong momentum, advancing 12.4 percent in September and bringing its year-to-date return to 16.1 percent.
Tidan Fund, which focuses on opportunities across corporate capital structures, celebrated its four-year anniversary in September with its strongest month on record. The fund gained 10.6 percent and lifted its year-to-date return to 6.8 percent. Meanwhile, discretionary macro fund Brobacke Global Allokering also enjoyed a solid September, gaining 9.6 percent and bringing its 2025 performance to 24.1 percent.
Top Performing Long-Only Equity Funds
In September of 2023, HedgeNordic introduced a new sub-strategy category to the Nordic Hedge Index: Equity Long-Only (ELO). This category is home to funds that would fall short of qualifying as a hedge fund due to their long-only trading approach but exhibit habitual characteristics of a hedge fund strategy (e.g., leverage and derivatives usage, portfolio concentration, fee structure, a spin-off of a long/short strategy, and absolute return objectives, among others).
