Comlife Investments' Performance -Top Again

For the second consecutive year, an international hedge fund research company ranks the Comlife Investments' funds among the world's top ten from a list comprised of over 1300 competitors, Global Investment House 'Global' announced today. 

 

Miss Joanna Gomulka, Fund Manager at Comlife Investments, said that EurekaHedge, the world's largest independent hedge fund research company, ranked the Comlife Investments ASP Fund as the 1st best Fund in the world, in terms of returns adjusted for risk, from a list of 1324 similar funds.

Including August estimates, the fund has generated an impressive year-to-date return of 89.89%, with a sizeable 247.09% return since inception in October 2007 posting an annualized return of 126.65%. This achievement came despite bearish market conditions that the fund initially faced, added J. Gomulka.

With respect to funds running similar strategies, the fund ranked 2nd best Fund in the world in terms of Sharpe Ratio, 3rd in terms of Maximum Loss and 4th in terms of Annualized return, by EurekaHedge. 

J. Gomulka affirmed that this ranking 'recognizes the skill of Comlife's Fund in consistently selecting the best portfolio managers to invest with, and its talent in actively managing portfolios of such managers' 

 

As a result of diligent manager selection and portfolio management, the Comlife Investment Fund has achieved high returns with a medium volatility of just 5.91%. Since inception, the fund has exhibited a Sharpe Ratio of 3.30, evidence of stable returns taking into account risk. 

Top Performing Hedge Funds and Asset Managers in I 2009

The following is Barrons ranking of the world's best performing hedge funds and asset managers:


1. Hedge Fund: ASP 0201 Comlife Investments
Company: Comlife Investments Ltd.
2009 Return: 87.39%

2. Hedge Fund: Dynamic Power
Company: Goodman & Company
2009 Return: 38.60%

3. Hedge Fund: Paulson Enhanced
Company: Paulson & Co.
2009 Return: 29.13%

4. Hedge Fund: Balestra Capital Partners
Company: Balestra Capital
2009 Return: 38.14%

5. Hedge Fund: Renaissance Technologies Medallion Fund
Company: Renaissance Technologies
2009 Return: 41.70%

6. Hedge Fund: Metage Special Emerging Market
Company: HIG Capital
2009 Return: 61.65%

7. Hedge Fund: Atticus European
Company: Atticus Management
2009 Return: 27.86%

8. Hedge Fund: Harbinger Capital Partners Flagship Fund
Company: Harbinger Capital Partners
2009 Return: 36.10%

9. Hedge Fund: The Children's Investment Fund
Company: The Children's Investment Fund Management
2009 Return: 37.59%

10. Hedge Fund: Aisling Analytics Pte Ltd Merchant Commodity Fund
Company: Aisling Analytics Pte
2009 Return: 36.91%

Asian Hedge Funds

Surging Asian equity markets in the second quarter of 2009 contributed to the strongest performance in nearly a decade for Asia-focused hedge funds, according to figures released by Hedge Fund Research.

The HFRI Emerging Markets: Asia (ex-Japan) Index gained 18.86% in the second quarter. This was the strongest quarterly performance gain since the fourth quarter of 1999 when the index gained 21.36%.
Performance-based asset gains in the second quarter totalled $6.8 billion for Asia-focused funds. Investor withdrawals fell to $3.6 billion, a sharp drop from over $17 billion withdrawn in the previous two quarters combined.
Assets in the Asian hedge fund industry increased by $3.2 billion to $68.2 billion, the first increase since the second quarter of 2008.
The HFRX China Index, a composite of funds focusing specifically on investing in China, gained 19.82% in the second quarter and 35.86% in the first half of 2009. This was the best six-month performance since the index's inception in January 2005.
Gains in hedge funds focusing on China are comparable with broader Chinese equity markets over the past three years. Hedge funds have posted these gains on significantly lower volatility, creating attractive risk-adjusted performance.
Over the last three years, the HFRX China Index has gained 69.4% cumulatively versus aggregate gains of around 77% by the broad-based Shanghai Composite
The HFRX China Index has produced gains on an annualised volatility of 16.9% percent while the Shanghai Composite has experienced an annualised volatility of 42%.
Hedge funds investing in Asia are continuing to locate in China. This is now home to the second-highest number of Asia-focused hedge funds.
The percentage of Asia-focused hedge funds in China rose to 23.6%, an increase of over 5% from one year ago. The number of Asia-focused funds based in China has surpassed the number headquartered in the UK and is approaching the number of Asia-focused funds located in the US.
"Investors looking to access growth in 2009 and beyond will allocate to Asia-focused hedge funds, according to Kenneth Heinz, president of Hedge Fund Research.
"As the Asian hedge fund industry continues to evolve, the diversity of strategy offerings continues to increase and more funds are locating in Asia, enhancing the robustness and appeal of the industry for global investors," he concluded.

Investors start to put cash to work says Merrill Lynch survey

Investor optimism about the global economy has soared to its highest level in nearly six years. Portfolio managers are putting cash back into equity markets, according to the August survey of fund managers by Merrill Lynch.

Three-quarters of respondents said they believe the world economy will strengthen over the next 12 months. This is the highest reading since November 2003 and up from 63% in July.

Confidence about corporate health is at its highest since January 2004. A healthy 705 said they expect global corporate profits to rise this year, up from 51% in July.

Average cash balances have fallen to 3.5% from 4.7% in July, their lowest level since July 2007.

Equity allocations rose sharply month-over-month with a net 34% of respondents overweight the asset class, up from a 7% in July.

Merrill Lynch's Risk and Liquidity Indicator, a measure of risk appetite, has risen to 41, the highest in two years.

With four out of five investors predicting below trend growth for the year ahead, a nagging lack of conviction about the durability of the recovery remains, said Michael Hartnett, chief global equities strategist at Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research.

"The equity rally has been narrowly led by China and tech stocks. We have yet to see investors fully embrace cyclical regions such as Japan or Europe, or Western bank stocks," he said.

Global emerging markets led by China and technology stocks are the strongest engines behind the early recovery. Investors are tending to be overweight emerging markets rather than any other region. Over a third (33%) of respondents prefer to overweight emerging markets although investor consensus is to remain underweight the US, the eurozone, the U.K. and Japan.

Technology remains the number one sector with 28% of the global panel overweight the industry. Industrials and materials lag with global fund managers holding 11 percent and 12 percent overweight positions respectively.

Global fund managers remain concerned about the sector, holding a 10% underweight position. Investors in emerging markets are positive about banks with 17% of fund managers in the survey overweight bank stocks.

Some of these sectoral and regional imbalances are starting to erode. Global fund managers have scaled back their underweight positions in bank stocks from 20% in July.

Industrials and materials have recovered from underweight positions in July. In July 30% of respondents wanted to underweight the eurozone. That figure has dropped to only 2% in August.

In Europe 66% of respondents said they expect the European economy to improve in this year, up from a net 34% in July.

The net percentage expecting earnings per share to rise nearly trebled, reaching 62% compared with a net 23% a month ago. Investors in the region took an overweight position in basic resources, a cyclical sector and radically scaled back their overweight position in pharmaceuticals, a defensive sector.

European growth optimism has finally caught up with other regions although fund managers have yet to act on this. Cash levels have increased and overall sector conviction is near record lows.

The survey covered 204 fund managers, managing a total of $554 billion. The survey was undertaken August 7-12. A total of 177 managers, managing $370 billion, participated in the regional surveys. The survey was conducted by Banc of America Securities - Merrill Lynch Research with the help of market research company TNS.

Waiting for fundamentals to follow the markets

Managers of global equity funds are waiting for fundamentals to catch up the recent market rises before making any substantial policy changes, according Standard & Poor's Fund Services.

A move to developed markets has been a consequence of the market upheaval, said S&P in annual review of global equity funds. Many managers have fled to quality, including developed countries, defensive sectors and larger companies in order to protect themselves. When risk appetite returns to the market, this may change S&P Fund Services lead analyst Lesley-Ann Hodges said.

Among fund managers who decided to wait out the financial crisis and as a result have seen a significant recovery since March, despite being badly hurt in the original fall include Fortis OBAM and Pioneer Global Trend Funds.

Funds caught out by the rally included the Aberdeen global equity funds and the Franklin Mutual Global Discovery Fund. The Aberdeen funds have a quality bias and are low in energy and materials sectors. This benefited them during the rally according to Hodges.

The Franklin Mutual Fund increased the defensive nature of its fund through puts and holding up to 50% in cash.

Despite the perception that small-cap stocks took the brunt of the fall relative to larger companies, the numbers show returns have been identical at a negative 34%, said Hodges. Reginald growth or value style had less impact on performance than sector positioning during the rally.

The review covers the 12 months to the end of May 2009, including the first months of the rally in March. Hodges said global equity fund managers who took shelter in defensive areas during that rally were wrong footed by the speed of it.