Industry Reports View Monthly NHX Reports NHX November 2019 NHX October 2019 NHX September 2019 NHX August 2019 NHX July 2019 NHX June 2019 NHX May 2019 NHX April 2019 NHX March 2019 NHX February 2019 NHX December 2017 NHX September 2017 NHX May 2017 NHX April 2017 NHX March 2016 NHX February 2017 NHX January 2017 NHX December 2016 NHX November 2016 NHX October 2016 NHX June 2017 NHX September 2016 NHX-August 2016 NHX July 2016 NHX June 2016 NHX May 2016 NHX April 2016 March 2016 NHX February 2016 NHX December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 Download Download Publication Nordic Hedge Fund Industry Report 2020March 2020 This year´s edition again looks at launches and closures among Nordic hedge fund managers, we highlight the increasing trend of mergers and acquisitions in the space. Three of the new strategies we introduce come from Denmark´s HP, Finnish Mandatum and Sweden´s Kreditfonden. AP3´s Torbjörn Hamnmark shares his views on global macro, and IPM´s CEO, Arne Hassel talks about expanding, while waiting for fundamentals to stage a comeback. Jonas Martenson looks at a very different risk/return set of opportunities in the secondary life insurance market has and also HCP´s Tommi Kemppainen is not up for guessing games. Peter Ragnarsson and Mikael Huldt tell us how Swedish institutional investors are turning to private markets in their hunt for yield, while Pacific´s Mattias Gromark is awaiting the next gold rush. The specialists at Capital Four stress “The Importance of Relative Value in Credit,” Proxy P is driving and riding the energy transition, while Aaron Overy from the AMX sends us a postcard from Sweden, sharing his take on the industry. Managed Futures / CTA 2019January 2020 We were, again, extremely pleased with the lineup of managers we were able to gather around the lunch table to discuss the status of the CTA space. We welcomed Gernot Heitzinger (SMN), David Denison (Florin Court), Kathryn Kaminski (AlphaSimplex), Martin Källström (Lynx), Razvan Remsing (Aspect Capital), Artur Sepp (Quantica Capital), Alex Lowe (ISAM), Harold de Boer (Transtrend) Chad Martinson (Efficient Capital) and Christian Lundström (Swedish Pensions Agency) to the discussion. Alternative Fixed Income 2019December 2019 This ultralow – even negative - yielding environment creates headaches for the average Joe investor on his savings account and pension plan. But professional investors are also forced to rethink their strategy. Just a few years ago, this scenario was not in the game plan. In this report, HedgeNordic is looking to identify how managers trading with various fixed income instruments are tackling what could well be a new regime. Marketing & Sales for Hedge FundsDecember 2019 Marketing, sales, investor relations and similar trades are essential for an asset manager. These functions require attention and consideration when setting up, and through the whole life cycle. It is not too often that a really good team of portfolio managers and a solid team that has an eye on the marketing side come together. But when they do, magic tends to happen. Global MacroNovember 2019 Global Macro is –arguably- the quintessence of a hedge fund strategy. Various instruments are used, trading numerous markets across the globe, using leverage at times and having the ability to go long and short. Some of the brightest brains, greatest brands, biggest egos and successful stories in asset management are found among global macro managers. It is also the space where seemingly two simple traits can make all the difference between fame and glory and utter disaster: skill and experience. Equity Strategies & Value InvestingOctober 2019 HedgeNordic´s special report on equity strategies - across the board, with an In Focus section on Value Investing. Systematic StrategiesJune 2019 ver the years, two main approaches have evolved in active management: systematic and discretionary investing. To put it simply: systematic (often associated with the term ‘quant’) generally applies a more repeatable and data-driven approach, relying on computers to identify investment opportunities across many securities. A discretionary approach, in contrast, typically involves in-depth, human brain and hand-on analysis across a smaller number of securities and relies more on information that is not always easily codified. 2018 Nordic Hedge AwardMay 2019 All the winners, runners up, jury members, statistics and much more from the 2018 Nordic Hedge Award. Nordic Hedge Fund Industry Report 2019March 2019 Nordic hedge funds started to lick their wounds and look back at the poorest performance in a decade. One must go back to the fall-out of the financial crisis, when terms as sub-prime, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns filled the front pages. The Nordic Hedge Index Composite (NHX) gave up 3,6%, closing at an index value of 183,4, the largest annual loss since 2008, when the NHX lost 9,4% in the year, closing at 116,4. Managed Futures / CTA 2018January 2019 2018 saw three crisis months with falling equity prices along with, partially historic, surges and spikes in volatility. As a whole, CTAs were only able to provide downside protection and generate returns in December - too late, of course, for our gathering in late November to be considered. Analyzing these occurrences, was an important anchor point in our discussion. Other topics included performance and markets, the dynamics of models, new contracts such as Bitcoin, artificial intelligence and machine learning, client communication, replication of “cheap trend,” how AuM may affect performance and the research agenda. Alternative Fixed Income 2018November 2018 In HedgeNordic´s last Special Report for 2018, we have all eyes on fixed income markets, and the various strategies and instruments portfolio managers utilize in this low-interest environment attempting to generate returns for their investors. Alternative Risk PremiaOctober 2018 Alternative risk premia investing has grown in popularity and has become one of the industries buzz terms. But what exactly does it involve, and what should investors look for when considering which alternative risk premia strategies to invest in? In this paper, we touch on the theory behind alternative risk premia as well as discuss some of the practical considerations that should help investors get the most out of their allocation to these innovative investment strategies. Uncovering Alpha in a “Fat and Flat” Equity MarketSeptember 2018 The discussion led by Aline ReichenbergGustafsson looked into how hedge fundmanagers, and indeed allocators, may be preparing for a perfect storm on global equity markets, the increasing role sustainable investing has and the opportunities and challenges it brings, how market volatility can become more of a friend, rather than just a risk factor, and how new technologies, such as the blockchain, artificial intelligence and big data may transform the financial industry. Hedge Fund Industry Report Q2 2018June 2018 Systematically SustainableJune 2018 Welcome to the first issue of NordSIP insights. It is only the first of many, as our aim is to provide the asset management industry with a forum to share information, expertise, and research, in other words, unique insights to push the boundaries of sustainable investing. In this edition on systematic strategies, the aim, together with our partners, is to paint a detailed picture of where the industry stands, what challenges remain and what concrete steps can be taken to integrate ESG in quantitative strategies. Discover Nordic insights and more… 2017 Nordic Hedge Award SpecialMay 2018 All the highlights and winners from the 2017 Nordic Hedge Award, with company and fund profiles, background info and interviews from the best Nordic Hedge Funds of 2017. Nordic Hedge Fund Industry Report 2018March 2018 On the first pages of the report, we made an effort to dissect to Nordic hedge fund space and present data, numbers, some facts and fiction we hoped you´d find relevant. This edition of the Nordic hedge fund industry report will look into what institutional investors (and jury members to the Nordic Hedge Award) consider to be some characteristics of a good hedge fund, and investigate if hedge funds and family offices are distant cousins, and carry some of the same DNA. The report also looks at how Nordic pension funds invest in equities and what role ESG plays in that. We are introducing three four new launches that come with very different prefixes. We introduce a new series in this report, having a segment of the hedge fund industry “in focus” and have selected fund of hedge funds under the microscope. HedgeNordic spoke to many interesting managers for this publication from across the Nordics and discussed their strategies, views on markets and the world, on risk and risk appetite and much, much more, to share with you on the next pages. Real Estate & Infrastructure InvestmentsMarch 2018 Stockholm (HedgeNordic) - With the steady growth of the real asset class in the past few years, assets under management are up, and yields are down. Asset managers and asset owners may sometimes find it hard to deploy capital, or to generate the return they need. Around a table in Stockholm on a cold January morning, HedgeNordic has assembled a group of seasoned real estate and infrastructure investors to discuss the critical points of real asset management and assess today’s situation. The discussion was vivid and touched many areas in a lively session. On the menu were the illiquidity premium, the question of size, the advantages (or disadvantages) of direct and indirect investments and also what Environment Social and Governance (ESG) factors are driving real estate and infrastructure projects. There were some really interesting side pockets, too, to be discovered. In all, a much entertaining and informative session giving Nordic Insights from an unusually international group of experts which you can, through this paper, participate in. Picture: © nomadFra---shutterstock.com Family Offices & Hedge FundsFebruary 2018 While ultimately families are patient investors with investment horizons often spreading across generations, there are flaws with their typical, long-only heavy investments, being at the mercy that markets will go up always and in all periods. Over a five-year bull market, long-only funds may likely outperform. But at least based on history, they have the potential to dramatically underperform over cycles that include bear markets. There is a clear need for such investors to diversify their portfolios and be less correlated, overall, to equity and fixed income markets. Family offices often have the size, skill and manoeuvrability to identify and allocate to some of the outstanding talents of hedge fund managers out there. The relatively short decision making, sticky money and less fee and liquidity sensitivity make them an interesting target group for managers struggling for big insti -tickets. One would like to think family offices demands and hedge fund offerings were a match made in heaven in perfect symbiosis. We gathered some family offices and hedge fund managers to discuss just this. And many, many interesting topics more! Systematic Macro & Managed Futures 2018January 2018 2017, again, turned out to be a challenging year for the CTA and Macro industry struggling to generate returns to investors. The Barclay CTA Index is showing a modest increase of 0.6% for 2018 while the Nordic Hedge Index CTA Subindex (NHX CTA) is painting an even grimmer picture, indicating a YTD loss of 2.4% of NAV by the end of 2017. Not surprisingly then, the discussions were centred around 5 themes; performance, drawdowns, diversification and new markets, the impact of artificial intelligence and distribution models and fees. The Many Shapes & Colours of Equity Hedge Fund StrategiesDecember 2017 Equity strategies, be it trading stocks, equity indices or derivatives are by far the most wide spread segment of the hedge fund space. The strategies managers apply to find and extract alpha from the markets are manifold, the clean cuts being a long only (or long biased) and a dedicated short bias approach. on the other end of the spectrum. From equity arbitrage, market neutral, systematic traders or discretionary stock pickers, activist managers, those trading large caps, or only micro caps and the enormous spread in the middle. Managers could focus on certain geographies or industries, be event driven, looking at a vast number of different types of events...I could go on here and would still be doing little more than scratching the surface of the many shapes and colours equity funds appear in. Alternative Fixed IncomeNovember 2017 To tease you into the paper, here some of the highlights: We were able to scrutinize the claim that there is always value in global bond markets while critically asking if fixed income markets are actually overvalued, Helsinki based AIM Capital tells us how to dissect value in credit. We are reminded that structured credits across all asset classes have delivered strong performance in recent years, look at the merits of convertible bonds and dig up the hidden treasures of short duration high yield. The report gives a crash course on the rise of Green Bonds and their role in financial markets. We were fortunate to be able to interview Helena Windahl managing the biggest Green Bond fund in the world in terms of AuM. The hurricane season in the Caribbean and Southern part of the United States meant a major and catastrophic event, non the least for ILS / Cat Bonds. HedgeNordic had the opportunity to talk to Nordic asset managers active in the field. Nordkinn Asset Management, one of the most successful fund launches of recent years in the Nordics investigates if hedge funds can be a part of the solution for a sustainable financial system as regulation sweeps away and shifts long grown roles on financial markets. Alternative Fixed Income & Credit StrategiesNovember 2017 HedgeNordics´ roundtable in Copenhagen of credit managers, and allocators including pension funds, family offices, insurance companies, and multi -manager fund of funds, discussed their preferred habitats in today’s credit markets – and where they expect to shift exposure towards as market conditi ons change and evolve. The ability to dynamically rebalance portfolios is highly prized in credit investi ng, which is one reason why active management remains predominant. Passive investi ngis not viewed as a threat to fees in credit investment management, not least because most acti ve credit managers have outperformed passive indices and ETFs. Real Estate & InfrastructureOctober 2017 In this publication, you will find that, to little surprise, those managers in asset classes adjacent to real estate, have been particularly vehement about the increasing misplacing of real estate. Not only has the illiquidity premium been drawn down, but the risk of the asset class itself may be misunderstood, given how long the current positive trend has been going on for. Let us not forget that the Nordics are still experiencing a strong urbanization phenomenon, and that it is supporting the demand for residential, but also commercial constructions. HedgeNordic Industry Report 2017June 2017 HedgeNordic is pleased to announce the publication of its annual industry report covering the latest trends in the Nordic hedge fund industry. This year, we found interesting parallels between hedge funds and sports. Analogies or real-world comparisons span over horse riding, boxing, running, football, yoga and fencing as well as life after the game, great sports clubs and of course, gold medals. The report contains insightful interviews with Nordic equity long/short managers Alcur, Origo and Bodenholm, multinational players Eaton Vance and Lombard Odier, systematic managers Helsinki Capital Partners, alternative credit manager Asgard and many others. 2016 Nordic Hedge AwardMay 2017 The final event of the Nordic Hedge Award 2016 took place in Stockholm in April 2017. HedgeNordic summarized the highlights of the event and introduces the winners in this Special Report. CTAs & Global Macro 2017April 2017 Nordic CTAs had a relatively strong showing during the year. The NHX CTA Index, which is an equal weighted index of Nordic CTAs, gained 2.2 percent, leading to an outperformance of more than 5 percentage points compared to the SG CTA Index. The struggle for the managed futures industry has continued into the first quarter of 2017. Sustainable Investing in AlternativesFebruary 2017 Sustainability as a trend in the investment world has reached a tipping point in the last couple of years and it is here to stay. In the Nordics, several institutional investors have taken Environmental, Social and Governance issues at heart for more than a decade already. Only now are alternatives and especially hedge funds playing catch up. Giving up on risk-adjusted returns is no longer a price to pay for being a responsible investor. To the contrary, many believe that ESG factors are hygienic and need to be considered by all, at the risk of facing reputational and financial costs down the line. CTA & Macro Round TableJanuary 2017 In order to shed some more light on the recent development of the CTA industry, HedgeNordic gathered industry experts, CTAs/quant macro managers and Nordic allocators alike, to a roundtable session. The unique blend of world leading quant strategy hedge fund managers and prominent Nordic institutional allocators provided for a fruitful discussion spanning over a wide range of subjects. Participating in the discussion were representatives of Lynx, Aspect, Winton, DUNN, Effcient, AP1, AltoCumulus, RPM, IPM,Movestic, SMN and Estlander & Partners. Political Risk 2017January 2017 Political Risk 2017 – The Age of Uncertainty. Spanning analyses immanent to the U.S., Europe and Scandinavia, to Emerging Markets and across Geostrategic considerations, NBM trusts this report can be an aid to its subscribers in hedging their bets in what is certain to be a highly uncertain year ahead. Emerging & Frontier MarketsDecember 2016 Donald Trump’s presidency will, with little doubt, have an impact on our world, be it on the political landscape in regards to US relations with Russia, the EU or Mexico, or treaties like the Iran nuclear deal and TTIP to mention a few which again will have effects on the USD, the price of oil and other commodities, inflation and interest rates etc. If you believe that Trump means more inflation, lower taxes and higher U.S. growth, and if you believe oil prices will stay above $50 which will lead to a commodity rebound, then emerging markets look better than they have in years. Fixed Income StrategiesSeptember 2016 Fixed Income, versus fixed beliefs. The challenge is profound. Amid this low-yield, zero-interest rate and highly volatile environment, there is an eternal range of questions outstanding. Amid the uncertainty, there are also enterprising answers and strategic adjustments - as this report demonstrates. All is not bleak, therefore. Necessity, as always, is the mother of invention. In this report, we demonstrate how: A diverse range of fund managers and industry professionals describe new launches, new ideas to tackle old thinking, and their overall vision on a number of instruments comprising the Fixed Income habitat in 2016. As the Beatles were well aware, it takes harsh adjustments to make it all seem easy going. HedgeNordic Industry Report 2016June 2016 The global hedge fund industry has experienced a tough period during the last couple of years. Not only has performance been uninspiring, but large institutional investors are also showing signs of redeeming their hedge fund allocations. The HedgeNordic review of 2015 and lookout for the remainder of 2016 of the Nordic hedge fund industry shows a somewhat different picture. While Nordic hedge funds, like their international peers, have faced a a challenging environment in terms of generating any meaningful returns, they have still managed to significantly outperform global benchmarks. In terms of asset flows, the Nordic industry also remain upbeat, with the largest managers growing quickly. There have also been a number of interesting new launches, read all about them in our annual review of the Nordic hedge fund industry Alternative Investments in FinlandMay 2016 In this special report on the Finnish alternative investment universe, for the first time HedgeNordic focuses on a country rather than an industry segment. And what better place to look at than Finland! The publication shall not just focus on the hedge fund space, introducing local managers and allocators alike, as well as foreign players active on the market. Much more, the report shall act as a one stop shop and give the Finnish alternative investment space an opportunity to present themselves as a whole. Real Estate & InfrastructureApril 2016 Real estate investing has come to the forefront of institutional investors´allocations in recent years. With traditional low risk alternatives yielding close to zero, the perceived stable returns and low risk profile of real estate investments have had instititutions, in the Nordics and elsewhere, focusing more on the asset class. CTA & Macro Strategies 2016March 2016 Often thrown in the same investment category bucket, Macro and CTA funds are typically viewed as having similar characteristics. Although there are similar traits, the strategies also differ in important aspects. An overview of the last 15 years performance shows that there is an apparent correlation of returns, however individual periods show significant performance dispersion. In this report we did combine the two strategies, each in itself of course anything but a homogenous group of traders. Market Neutral Strategies 2016December 2015 In a market neutral product, manager skill and the size of the risk budget account for the bulk of the return. Assessing the skill of a market-neutral manager is difficult, given the variations in tactics among managers and the relative novelty of the category. It may help to have a detailed understanding of the main product types, their risk/return trade-offs, and the correlations among them. What we aimed to do in this paper is take a closer, deeper look at market neutral strategies, what their benefits and pitfalls are, describe them, and investigate the different approaches. HedgeNordic Industry Report 2015June 2015 Large parts of this report, especially in the first section, extract data and performance figures from the HedgeNordic database. The pages can be accessed via nhx.hedgenordic.com. Listing for managers and funds is free of any charges and viewing data requires no login or registration and is equally not tied to any costs. This report aims to give a deeper look and understanding of the composition and dynamics of the Nordic hedge fund industry. The paper looks at the Nordic hedge fund industry as a whole and attempts to compare it to wider, international indices. We analysed performances and risk adjusted performances in the respective sub-indices, and highlighted the movers and shakers in their segment as well as individual funds and managers that had a particular influence on the market. Managed Futures / CTA 2015March 2015 Managed Futures for many investors only had some cameo appearances on the big screens until they had their first lead role in 2008, arriving to the rescue of financial-crisis struck portfolios like superheros. Ever since though, CTAs have struggled to find an environment to match historical returns. It seemed like the industry had met its Kryptonite in markets influenced and „manipulated“ by government and central bank interventions and politically influenced monetary and fiscal policies where volatility disappeared. ETFs and Hedge FundsNovember 2014 Hedge funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) at first sight may appear far apart and impossible to compare or even find common ground in the investment universe. But this prejudice is being challenged. A Good Time For Hedge Funds?October 2014 We were delighted when Amundi Asset Management invited us to co-organize a round table discussion among distin- guished representatives of the Nordic hedge fund industry to discuss the current state and environment for hedge funds, with a special emphasis on the Nordic region. In the current environment where recovery is there but still fragile and interest rates are on a rising trend, investors are look- ing for yields. Hedge funds so far in 2014 largely struggle to deliver performance and meet investors. The hedge fund industry in summer saw significant regulatory changes, notably with the end of the AIFMD transition period for European hedge fund participants on July 22. The race of performance will begin on July 22 with the end of the AIFMD transition period for European hedge fund participants. But which of the two main regimes for European hedge funds will win the race for performance. Alternative market partici- pants will have to choose their team and their bid: UCITS or AIFM. And the impact of regulatory changes will not end here Managed Futures / CTA (2014)April 2014 Managed Futures for many investors only had some cameo appearances on the big screens until they had their first lead role in 2008, arriving to the rescue of financial-crisis struck portfolios like super-heros. In the period following, money poured into CTA strategies, growing the industry from 206 billion Dollars in 2008 to 331 billion USD by the end of last year, according to BarclayHedge. Ever since 2008 though Managed Futures have struggled to find an environment to match historical returns. Widely followed BarclayHedge CTA Index recorded its firs time ever three back to back negative years (2011: -3.1%; 2012: -1,7%; 2013: -1.4%) The average Nordic CTA avoided that fate with Nordic Hedge Index CTA sub index saving itself to positive territory virtually in the last trading days of the year. HedgeNordic Industry Report 2014March 2014 Large parts of this report, especially in the first section, extract data and performance figures from the HedgeNordic database. The pages can be accessed via nhx.hedgenordic.com. Listing for managers and funds is free of any charges and viewing data requires no login or registration and is equally not tied to any costs. This report aims to give a deeper look and understanding of the composition and dynamics of the Nordic hedge fund industry. The paper looks at the Nordic hedge fund industry as a whole and attempts to compare it to wider, international indices. We analysed performances and risk adjusted performances in the respective sub-indices, and highlighted the movers and shakers in their segment as well as individual funds and managers that had a particular influence on the market. Multi Strategy Hedge FundsMarch 2014 Multi Strategy hedge funds have had a changing fate of popularity among investors over the last years. While the value of diversification in any investment portfolio, but especially those of large institutional investors has been well documented over the years, critics quickly pointed at extra fee layers, intransparency and a lack of flexibility as handicaps. Shifting risk to more than one fund and/or strategy in theory reduces the risk of the overall investment program. The value in multi-strategy funds is providing the portfolio manager with the flexibility to capitalise on the best opportunities in a wider range of single- strategy funds. These can be limited in the scope of their skill set, investment opportunities and mandate. Risk ManagementFebruary 2014 Risk Management is playing an ever increasing role in all segments of the financial industry. Even more in the aftermath of the turbulences of 2008, this is especially true for hedge funds. Risk management takes place and affects many areas of a fund and asset managers operations, from trading, operational set up, legal structure, data and infrastructure to name a few. Together with Northern Trust, HedgeNordic invited a panel of regional experts to discuss Risk Management and how it is applied in theory and practice within Nordic hedge funds. We were thrilled to be joined by a distinguished, diverse group ranging from risk managers, portfolio managers and academics from across the Nordics and beyond. Managed Futures / CTA (2013)January 2013 HedgeNordic invited representatives of the Nordic CTA industry to Stockholm for a round table discussion, co-hosted by RPM to share some “Nordic Insights” to the Managed Futures industry. We were thrilled to gather a distinguished, highly diverse group ranging from small start-up managers, multi-billion Dollar fund of funds, a long biased commodity manager, systematic global macro managers, a BTOP 50 fund, a retail platform and one of the largest institutional hedge fund allocators in Europe from AP1, Ålandsbanken Commodity Fund, ALFAKRAFT, Coeli Spektrum, Estlander & Partners, IPM Informed Portfolio Management, Movestic, SEB Asset Selection as well as RPM Risk & Portfolio Management and Nordic Business Media.
