Salt Funds Management has made the finals of the Australasian equity category in a prestigious Asia-Pacific regional hedge funds awards for its long-short strategy.
The Salt Long Short fund is up against a swag of seven Australian managers for the sector prize in the With Intelligence HFM Asian Performance Awards set down for November 9 in Hong Kong.
Greg McMaster, Salt head of client relationships, said the nomination alone was a rare achievement for a NZ manager in the tightly contested regional hedge fund awards.
“Obviously, we’re pleased to have made the finals,” McMaster said. “The Long Short fund has been a quiet achiever in the NZ market, delivering solid risk-adjusted returns since inception in 2014.”
He said the hedge-style fund has historically been lowly correlated and less volatile compared to the broader Australasian equities market.
The highly active Salt strategy, managed by co-founder Matthew Goodson, had returned almost 9.5 per cent per annum after fees since launch – outperforming both the cash plus 5 per cent and 50/50 ASX/NZX indices over the period, according to the latest fund update.
However, the With Intelligence awards target a shorter investment time-frame in line with the annual cycle.
“Nominees and winners are determined objectively, using a combination of Sharpe ratios and absolute returns,” the With Intelligence website says. “This quantitative approach ensures the awards reflect the two primary aims of hedge funds – to manage volatility, and to deliver positive returns for investors.”
In 2021, the hedge fund database (and With Intelligence subsidiary) HFM joined forces with Eurekahedge to run the Asia region awards jointly.
Previously, HFM and Eurekahedge had held separate annual Asian hedge fund award ceremonies – both since 2004.
McMaster said the Salt Long Short fund is starting to attract attention again from investors looking for an alternatives allocation.
Currently, the fund has about $77 million under management, down from a high of more than $200 million at one point.
Salt is considering a soft-close for the Long Short fund at about $150 million under management.
Aside from Salt, the With Intelligence Australasian shares category finalists include products from Perpetual and Pendal (now merged entities) as well as Regal, Auscap and Antares.
Most of the other managers across the 26 categories are little-known in NZ but another trans-Tasman player, Coolabah Capital, has been nominated in a credit sector while Platinum is also up for the top overall prize.