After four tough years, the hedge fund industry finally has something to cheer about. Solid performance in the first quarter of 2015, led by equity hedge and event-driven strategies, helped attract $18.2 billion of net new capital into the field, according to Chicago-based data provider Hedge Fund Research. Industrywide assets now total some $2.94 trillion, the most in hedge fund history.
This year’s first quarter numbers chase an equally strong 2014, when hedge funds enjoyed the highest capital inflows since 2007, even though investment performance was mediocre. Institutional Investor’s 13th annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards fête on Thursday, June 25, honored some of the industry’s top managers, investors and consultants who expertly navigated the market over the past year. The event, set at New York’s Mandarin Oriental hotel overlooking Central Park on an overcast summer night, pulled together more than 500 guests and honorees from across the hedge fund community — representing managers, funds of hedge funds, consulting firms, endowments, foundations and corporate and public pension funds.
The Hedge Clippers, an anticorruption activist group, unexpectedly kicked off the night by presenting their own “Worst Landlord” awards to several attendees outside the hotel. The group, which generally targets hedge fund managers and billionaires, claims that many hedge fund managers profit from foreclosures in low- and middle-income communities.
Back inside the ballroom, Doreen Mochrie, global head of investor relations at Perry Capital, presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to her colleague Richard Perry, CEO and co-founder of his namesake hedge fund firm. Perry began his career in finance on Robert Rubin’s legendary merger arbitrage desk at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the late 1970s before founding Perry Capital ten years later with $1 million. The New York–based firm, now managing $9.8 billion, is one of the best-performing hedge funds in the world, having generated an annualized return of 11.8 percent since inception in 1988.
II Editor Michael Peltz later introduced Kathryn (Katie) Hall, CEO, co-CIO and founder of San Francisco–based $31 billion Hall Capital Partners, as winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award. Hall’s commitment to cultivating diversity and top-notch investing practices has helped her firm become a recognizable force in promoting ethical corporate culture. Hall Capital supports younger employees and people with differing backgrounds and experiences. The Stanford business school graduate got her start at Morgan Stanley in the early 1980s before shifting to the hedge fund industry, where she eventually founded Laurel Arbitrage Partners, a risk arbitrage hedge fund, in 1989. Hall set up Hall Capital in 1994 as a holistic investment management firm catering to high-net-worth individuals, foundations and endowments. About 45 percent of the firm’s assets under management are in alternatives.
In sum, there were 115 nominees in 26 hedge fund manager, investor and consultant categories competing for recognition. The master of ceremonies, CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen, co-anchor of Power Lunch as well as Nightly Business Report, introduced the program and presented the balance of the awards, including Foundation of the Year (J. Paul Getty Trust), Endowment of the Year (Vanderbilt University), Institutional Hedge Fund Manager of the Year (Citadel) and Multistrategy Hedge Fund Manager of the Year (D.E. Shaw & Co.). Chicago-based hedge fund firm Citadel was also deemed the Equity-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year and nominated for Multistrategy Hedge Fund Manager of the Year, while New York’s D.E. Shaw Group was put forward as top Institutional Hedge Fund Manager.
In addition to longtime industry veterans, the ceremony celebrated 30 rising professionals whose expertise and experiences span from hedge fund managers like T. Troy Dixon of Hollis Park Partners to investors such as Courtney Powers of University of Texas Investment Management Co. and marketers including Graham Capital Management’s Leigh Lower. Mathisen also introduced Terry Lally, now with Wasatch Advisors, as the winner of the InvestPitch competition produced by II and SumZero, the world’s largest online membership community of buy-side investment professionals. Lally was selected from a group of 20 well-performing emerging managers last November for giving the most valid, original and feasible investment pitch.
After the ceremony finished, attendees put on their dancing shoes. Steve Liesman, a CNBC senior economics reporter by day and Deadhead rhythm guitarist by night, joined his Stella Blue’s Band mates in jamming to some Grateful Dead tunes as guests grooved along on the dance floor.
Here is a full list of the night’s award winners:
2015 Hedge Fund Investor Winners
| Award | Company |
| Corporate Plan of the Year | Verizon Investment Management Corp. |
| Endowment of the Year | Vanderbilt University |
| Family Office of the Year | Wildcat Capital Management |
| Foundation of the Year | J. Paul Getty Trust |
| Health Care System of the Year | Mount Sinai Medical Center |
| Hedge Fund Consultant of the Year | Matthew Mullarkey, Aksia |
| Outsourced CIO of the Year | Perella Weinberg Partners |
| Public Plan of the Year, Large | Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System |
| Public Plan of the Year, Small | Cook County Pension Fund |
| Sovereign Wealth Fund of the Year | Abu Dhabi Investment Authority |
2015 Hedge Fund Manager Winners
| Award | Company |
| Activist Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Pershing Square Capital Management |
| Credit-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Tilden Park Capital Management |
| Early Stage Hedge Fund Investor of the Year | Paloma Partners |
| Emerging Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Tourbillon Capital Partners |
| Equity-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Citadel |
| Event-Driven Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Third Point |
| Hybrid Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Canyon Partners |
| Institutional Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Citadel |
| Large Fund of Hedge Funds Manager of the Year | Blackstone Group |
| Long-Only Equity Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Coatue Management |
| Macro-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year, Discretionary | Graham Capital Management |
| Macro-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year, Systematic | Two Sigma Investments |
| Multistrategy Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | D.E. Shaw & Co. |
| Relative Value Hedge Fund Manager of the Year | Axonic Capital |
| Small Fund of Hedge Funds Manager of the Year | Ironwood Capital Management |
The winners and nominees were selected by Institutional Investor magazine’s editorial staff based on candidates chosen in a public call for nominations. The magazine group then conducted a wide survey of U.S. institutional investors and invited them to vote for the manager nominees. Hedge fund managers were invited to vote for the investor nominees.
See the full list of profiles on this year’s Hedge Fund Rising Stars. See also InvestPitch winner Terry Lally’s best investment idea.
