Last year was a challenging one for the hedge fund industry. Still, many managers were able to shine.
Credit was among the bright spots, and few managers were more brilliant than Jason Mudrick. His namesake firm, Mudrick Capital Management, rose from a dismal 2015 to post 2016 returns of 38.9 percent for its Mudrick Distressed Opportunity Fund, according to data from HSBC. Such outperformance — the average hedge fund was up only 5.43 percent, according to the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index — puts Mudrick among the Credit-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year finalists of Institutional Investor and Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine’s annual Hedge Fund Awards. The four other contenders in this category are BlackGold Capital Management, Brigade Capital Management, Contrarian Capital Management, and Strategic Value Partners.
After an astonishingly good first full year out of the gate, Chris Rokos’s London-based Rokos Capital Management is a finalist for both Emerging Hedge Fund Manager of the Year, which honors firms that have been in existence for five years or less, and Macro Hedge Fund Manager of the Year. Whereas Rokos’s alma mater Brevan Howard Asset Management was only able to post results of 3 percent in its flagship fund for the year, sources say Rokos was up 20 percent in 2016. The other candidates for Macro Hedge Fund Manager of the Year are Caxton Associates, Citadel, Discovery Capital Management, and Graham Capital Management.
Citadel is also a finalist for Institutional Hedge Fund Manager of The Year. The other finalists in that category are Angelo, Gordon & Co.; Baupost Group; CQS; and Two Sigma Investments.
Institutional Investor’s Hedge Fund Industry Award finalists are chosen through a rigorous review process. A call for nominations from the industry is followed by research and reporting on the part of editorial staff, with final decisions made by an editorial review committee. The finalists will now be voted on by industry participants, with the winners announced at a gala dinner and ceremony taking place June 21 at the Mandarin Oriental in New York.
For more information about the dinner or to request a ballot, please visit the event web site.
In the coming days, Institutional Investor will announce the Hedge Fund Allocator Finalists, as well as two industry Lifetime Achievement honorees. The Hedge Fund Rising Stars — a list of 30 rising stars in the hedge fund industry, also honored at the dinner — will be unveiled at the end of the month.
Following is a complete list of the 2017 hedge fund manager finalists. The names can also be found on the Hedge Fund Awards web site.
Institutional Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Angelo, Gordon & Co.
Baupost Group
Citadel
CQS
Two Sigma
Emerging Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Junto Capital Management
Key Square Group
Magnolia Road Capital
Rokos Capital Management
Westfield Capital Management
Large Fund-of-Hedge-Funds Manager of the Year
BlackRock
Blackstone Group
Morgan Stanley Investment Management
Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co.
Rock Creek Group
Boutique Fund-of-Hedge-Funds Manager of the Year
Gapstow Capital Partners
Greenlight Masters
Investcorp
Ironwood Capital Management
Silver Creek Capital Management
Outsourced CIO of the Year
Appomattox Advisory
Hall Capital Partners
Investure
Perella Weinberg Partners
Summit Rock Advisors
Hedge Fund GP Investor of the Year
Affiliated Managers Group
Blackstone Group
Dyal Capital Partners
Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Paloma Partners
Equity-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Carlson Capital
Impala Asset Management
Proxima Capital Management
Quantitative Investment Management
Credit-Focused Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
BlackGold Capital Management
Brigade Capital Management
Contrarian Capital Management
Mudrick Capital Management
Strategic Value Partners
Hybrid Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Caspian Capital
Fortress Investment Group
GoldenTree Asset Management
Marathon Asset Management
Värde Partners
Multistrategy Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Angelo, Gordon & Co.
BFAM Partners
CQS
Halcyon Capital Management
RBC Global Asset Management
Relative-Value Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Axonic Capital
One William Street Capital Management
Pacific Investment Management Co.
Tilden Park Capital Management
Whitebox Advisors
Activist Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Blue Harbour Group
Greylock Capital Management
TCI Fund Management
Toscafund Asset Management
Trian Partners
Event-Driven Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Beach Point Capital Management
Gates Capital Management
Elliott Management Corp.
Owl Creek Asset Management
P. Schoenfeld Asset Management
Macro Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
Caxton Associates
Citadel
Element Capital Management
Discovery Capital Management
Graham Capital Management
Rokos Capital Management
Quantitative Hedge Fund Manager of the Year
AQR Capital Management
Quantedge Capital
Renaissance Technologies
Systematica Investments
Two Sigma Investments
