European Fund of Hedge Funds Awards 2009 winners announced

Hedge Funds Review has announced the winners of its eighth European Fund of Hedge Funds Awards.

These FoHF awards are the only ones celebrating success in the FoHF industry.

Winner of the prestigious 2009 European Long-term Achievement in Fund of Hedge Funds award is Christopher Fawcett, senior partner at Fauchier Partners. In 1994 Fawcett co-founded Fauchier Partners, one of Europe’s leading fund of hedge funds (FoHF) managers.

In the product awards category, best performing diversified FoHF over 10 years was awarded to Aurum Isis Fund (Aurum Funds) while the three year prize was given to Culross Global Fund (Culross Global Management). GAM Multi-Diversified LV US Z Class (GAM) received the award for best performing diversified FoHF over one year.

Best performing specialist FoHF over 10 years was given to Stenham Quadrant USD Class (Stenham Asset Management) with the three year prize awarded to Gems Perennial (Gems Advisors). Abbey Capital Macro Fund (Abbey Capital) received the best performing specialist FoHF over one year.

Best performing energy/commodity FoHF went to Moonraker Commodities USD Fund (Moonraker Fund Management) with Man IP 220 Series 6 (Man Investments) awarded the best performing capital-protected FoHF.

47° North New Generation Fund (47°N Capital Management) received the best performing new FoHF (launched after July 2, 2008).

Best high net worth/private client FoHF provider was awarded to Rothschild Blackpoint.

Best institutional FoHF was awarded to Rothschild Blackpoint while the best institutional FoHF provider was HDF Finance.

Lyxor was given two awards: best managed account platform and best overall investment platform.

Stenham Asset Management bagged the best overall group award with the most innovative FoHF going to Harcourt Belair (Lux) Sustainable Alternatives SRI Fund (Harcourt Investment Consulting).

A new award recognising the best investor relations team was awarded to Liongate Capital Management.

Previous recipients of these awards have seen as much as a tenfold increase in their assets under management (AUM) in the 12 months after winning.

The judging process for the awards begins by running a screen across all entrants and selecting managers with a significant European presence, typically some investment or due diligence function.

Each fund of hedge funds is ranked against its peers by its annualised return, its Sharpe ratio and its annualised return over its worst month for the relevant period. These three rankings are added to produce an aggregate ranking and a long-list.

Other metrics such as volatility, total return, percentage of positive and negative months and age and size of fund are also generated and included in the statistics that the judges review.

The judges then discuss the various merits of each fund, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective.

This year’s judging panel comprised chairman Phil Irvine, Pi-Rho Consulting, Tushar Patel from HFIM, Neil Campbell from Tullett Prebon and Margie Lindsay, editor of Hedge Funds Review.

The winners of the 2009 awards were announced at a black-tie ‘Moulin Rouge’ themed gala dinner on November 26 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.