World Beta Blog

Can listed hedge funds take you where you want to go – or are their benefits merely an illusion?

I don’t know why listed hedge funds don’t get any press in the US. I used to post quite regularly on the topic, but have not re-examined the space in some time. There are roughly 40-50 listed hedge funds and FOFs trading on exchanges around the world with assets approaching $8 billion pounds. On average, the five funds below (that I said I would track at the beginning of the year) are up 5.6% YTD.

Altin AG(AIA) – Has returned roughly 10% p.a. since 8/1997, with 7% volatility. Sample funds it owns are Renaissance Institutional Equities, Raptor Global, Atticus European, and Eminence Long Alpha. Up roughly 19% YTD.

AIS (AIS) – Has returned roughly 9% since 8/1997 with 7% volatility. Sample funds it owns are QVT, Wellington, Tudor, and D.E. Shaw. Here is some background on AIS. Up roughly 0% YTD.

Dexion Absolute (DAB) – Has returned 10% since 1/2003 with 3% volatility. Sample funds it owns are Spinnaker, Lansdowne, Icahn, and Longacre. Here is some background on Dexion. Up roughly 2% YTD.

HSBC (HSGS) – Has returned 7% since 4/2001 with 4% volatility. Up roughly 5% YTD.

Goldman Sachs DO (GSDO) – Has returned 12% since 8/2006 with 5% volatility. Sample funds it owns are AQR, D.E. Shaw, Eton Park, Och-Ziff, and Stark. Up roughly 2% YTD.

Most all of these funds are trading 3-10% off their highs, and could possibly be trading at a discount to their NAV (just like CEFs here in the US), but I do not have those figures updated. The funds would be available through any of the discount brokers that allow foreign trading (such as E-Trade or Interactive Brokers – these five trade in London).