The 16th annual Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Awards ceremony took place on 24 May 2019 with a total of 240 attendees coming together to celebrate 61 of the best performing Asian hedge funds of 2018. KS Asia Absolute Return Fund came out tops, securing the Best Asian Hedge Fund award, along with Most Consistent Asia-based Hedge Fund and Best Asian Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund.
Following closely behind their success of three wins was FengHe Asia Fund who were named Best Singapore-based Hedge Fund, Best Asia ex-Japan Hedge Fund and Best Asian Long Short Equities Hedge Fund.
Familiar names for this year include Segantii Asia-Pacific Equity Multi Strategy Fund who clinched Best Asian Billion Dollar Hedge Fund - the third time they have won this award, and Akito Fund who won Best Japan Hedge Fund also for the third time.
Seahawk China Dynamic Fund joins the ranks as Best New Asian Hedge Fund for this year. New winners for this year include Sino Vision Greater China Market Neutral Fund (Best Greater China Hedge Fund), Avendus Absolute Return Fund (Best India Hedge Fund), PMC Managed Futures Segregated Portfolio (Best Asia-based CTA/Managed Futures Hedge Fund), Athos Asia Event Driven Fund (Best Asian Event Driven Hedge Fund), The Prism Income Fund (Best Asian Fixed Income Hedge Fund), and Bright Stream Macro Fund (Best Asia-based Global Macro Hedge Fund).
This year we conducted an SMS auction and live auction to raise funds for charity partner Autism Resource Centre (Singapore). A total of S$36,335 was raised thanks to the efforts and contributions from guests and we greatly appreciate the support.
Eurekahedge would like to thank everyone for their continuous support of the event through sponsorships, judging and selection of nominees and winners.
The Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Awards have had award categories across the board in regional and strategic mandates that not only reflect the industry’s performance but also highlight outstanding performers of the year.
Best Greater China Hedge Fund Sponsored by Maples Group
Nominees for the Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Awards are selected through voting by an independent panel of judges, from a working list of funds reporting to the Eurekahedge databases. All Asian hedge funds listed with Eurekahedge, operating as at end-April 2019, and have reported their latest performance and AUM numbers are eligible for nomination. A master file of all eligible funds for each of the award categories (according to their regional/strategic mandates) will be compiled and circulated among the judges to facilitate nomination for the awards (note: consequently, it is not unlikely that the same fund would be nominated for multiple awards).
Once the votes are collated and the list of nominees finalised, the winners are selected by the panel of judges, weighing in on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the funds in question. The quantitative discussion, while mainly based on 2018 performance, also evaluates 1Q 2019 risk/return metrics, on grounds of consistency in fund performance. The selection of nominees and winners is entirely under the remit of the panel of judges, and the role of Eurekahedge in this endeavour is limited to supplying data and moderating the discussion.
The winners are selected by an independent panel of judges based on both quantitative data and qualitative knowledge of the funds listed in the Eurekahedge database. Our esteemed panel of judges have a combined total of 102 years investing in the hedge fund industry.
Akane Hashimoto
Managing Director, Investment & Research
HC Asset Management Co Ltd, Japan
Akane Hashimoto joined HC in February 2003 as a consultant. Since then, she has been actively involved in Investment & Research activities as well as business development. Currently, she is responsible for Investment & Research activities as well as client relations activities. Prior to joining HC, she spent four years at Watson Wyatt (now Towers Watson) as an investment and business consultant. She began her career at The Bank of Tokyo (now Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.) in 1994, spending five years in the capital markets group. Bachelor of Arts (Economics), The University of Tokyo (1994).
Ronnie Wu
Managing Director
Penjing Asset Management
Ronnie Wu is chief investment officer and managing director of Penjing Asset Management.He joined Penjing Asset Management in November 2015. He led the effort in hedge fund research and selection, portfolio construction and monitoring the macro environment. As a key management partner, Ronnie was also responsible for the overall business direction of Penjing. He was the co-founder of Vision Investment Management (Asia) Ltd (VIM) in 2000. He joined VIM from UBS Global Asset Management in 1997, a key team member responsible for managing two market-neutral, multiple strategies fund of hedge funds. Ronnie holds a BS degree in Finance from University of Portland, USA and an MBA in Finance from San Diego State University, USA. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Shirin Ismail
Senior Vice President, Head of Alternatives
Fullerton Fund Management
Shirin Ismail, CFA, Senior Vice President and Head of Alternatives, joined Fullerton Fund Management Company on its formation in 2003. In her current role, she is responsible for portfolio investments into global funds including hedge funds. Prior to joining Fullerton, Shirin was with the Fund Management Division of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited since November 2000, where she was a fixed income portfolio manager specializing in European bonds.
With more than 20 years of experience in fixed income, FX forwards, money market, derivatives trading and portfolio management, Shirin previously work in the treasury dealing room of DBS Bank, Singapore from 1992-2000, managing the ACU money market book, European and Asian FX forwards, interest rate derivatives trading, bonds as well as asset & liability management.
Shirin was voted as one of the 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds 2011 and 2013 by The Hedge Fund Journal.
She graduated from Nanyang Technological University of Singapore with a First Class Honours Degree in Business (Banking & Insurance) in 1992. Shirin completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in 2017 and is a HBS Alumni.
William Ma
Chief Investment Officer
Noah Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited
Mr. William Ma, CFA, CAIA, is the Chief Investment Officer of Noah Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited and the Chief Investment Officer of Gopher Asset Management. Gopher is one the largest Fund of Hedge Funds manager in China with US$25 billion AUM. Previously Mr. Ma was the CIO of Gottex Penjing Asset Management (GPAM), the Asia asset management arm of Gottex Fund Management, a Swiss-listed alternative investment management firm. At GPAM, Mr. Ma managed US$2 billion of client assets and the Asian investment team, and was the lead portfolio manager of all of Gottex’s Asian fund of hedge funds focusing on portfolio management, hedge fund due diligence and manager selection. Prior to joining GPAM, Mr. Ma was Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager of Penjing Asset Management managing Asian funds of hedge funds. Before co-founding Penjing in 2005, he worked at Vision Investment Management (Asia) Ltd specializing in Asian hedge funds due diligence. Previously, he served as a research analyst at HT Capital Management Ltd, a Pan Asia Long/Short equity hedge fund management firm.
Mr. Ma received his BEng (EESE) from the University of Hong Kong and his MBA in Finance and E-Commerce from the University of San Francisco, and was invited to Peking University in Beijing in 2002 as an exchange student representative in the Beijing International MBA (BiMBA) program. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst charter holder, and a member of the Hong Kong Society of Financial Analysts.
Eliza Lau
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer
Synergy Fund Management Group
Eliza Lau is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Synergy Fund Management Group an asset management firm founded in 2010 and based in Hong Kong with a mission to discover local hidden talents for overseas investors, while helping local investors access overseas talents. Ms. Lau has over
28 years of experience in the financial industry, of which includes managing Funds of hedge Funds, Funds of PE Funds, Family Office Portfolios, Global Macro Hedge Funds, Asia Equity Long/Short Hedge Fund and Pan-Asia Long-only equity funds. Prior to founding Synergy Fund Management Group, Ms. Lau spent 8 years at Search Investment Group helped the Principal, Mr. Robert Miller, to build an institutional investment platform for Global and Asia Hedge Funds and PE Funds. Ms. Lau built and setup SAIL Advisors Limited in 2003 from Family Office to one of the largest Funds of Funds in Asia, where she was the CEO, CIO, and Member of Board of Directors for Search Investment Group.
Prior to Search Investment Group, Ms. Lau was one of the founding partners of JL Capital Partners Limited, an Asian macro hedge fund management based in Singapore. Before JL, Ms. Lau spent 13 years with Salomon Brothers, based in New York and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, she helped to build the Salomon Brothers Asset Management business and setup Pan-Asia focus funds including hedge funds and long only fund operation where she was responsible for managing Pan-Asian equity portfolios and convertible bond portfolios. Prior to Hong Kong, Ms. Lau spent 6 years in the research division at Salomon Brothers in New York, where she conducted intensive research on global equity, fixed-income and quantitative modeling for the Portfolio Construction team.
This year, Eurekahedge partnered with Autism Resource Centre. Autism Resource Centre (Singapore) or ARC(S), is a not-for-profit charity based in Singapore and registered in 2000. It was started by professional and parent volunteers dedicated to serving children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to help these individuals lead meaningful and independent lives in society.
ARC(S) has developed and launched the following key signature offerings:
• WeCAN Early Intervention Programme (WeCAN EIP) provides direct intervention to young children with autism 6 years and below using an effective autism curriculum that has been internally developed. We currently serve 94 young children.
• Pathlight School, started by ARC(S), is the first autism-focused school offering Singapore’s mainstream academic curriculum together with life readiness skills. The school caters to students with ASD and related disorders aged between 7 and 18 years of age who are cognitively able to access mainstream academic curriculum. Pathlight has 1,450 students to date.
• Autism Intervention, Training and Consultancy (AITC) which offers training endorsed by Singapore’s government and social service agencies to enskill and empower more teachers, school leaders, professionals and family caregivers to support individuals affected by ASD (with more than 3000 training seats taken up per year).
• Employability and Employment Centre (E2C) was officially launched on 19 March 2012 to serve the needs of teenagers and young adults with autism. The mission of the centre is to provide a stable and predictable environment where adults with autism can be trained in employability and vocational skills and become contributing members of the workforce. E2C has served more than 490 clients with autism since its inception and has successfully trained and placed more than 230 clients in open and customized employment.
For more information on the Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Awards 2019 and sponsorship opportunities available, please contact our awards team on +65 6212 0925 or at awards@eurekahedge.com
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