Alternative Investments (Hedge Funds): Alpha adds up for Winton
Macquarie looked at about 300 managers for its Professional Series of investments and narrowed it down to six including this year’s winner, Winton Global Alpha Fund.
The head of retail distribution for the Professional Series, Adrian Stewart, said Macquarie was looking for managers that can show they add value.
“We believe Winton has demonstrated they can add value to the portfolio,” he said.
“They were founded [in the UK] in 1997 with a good investment idea and haven’t deviated away from that model.”
The UK-based manager has a high volatility, systematic, quantitative managed futures program, which uses a statistical research approach to identify financial trends.
Lonsec, in its judging notes, said it regarded Winton’s founder David Harding as “a very high calibre investment professional with a long-term proven track record”.
“Harding has developed a culture of intellectual skill and dexterity at Winton which is the core of its success to date,” the researcher said.
“Winton’s proprietary statistical trading model has been well refined over time and continues to see significant resources utilised to further its continued development.”
Stewart said Winton has about 100 dedicated research staff in the UK looking at short, medium and long-term strategies.
“They are very flexible, so if they want to long equities and short bonds, that is allowed under their mandate,” he said.
“They will look for where the performance is and diversify away from other asset classes.” Global research creates opportunities using a variety of investment tools for finalist BlackRock Investment Management, according to its co-chief investment officer Russell Maddox.
“The research team searches through the BlackRock global range of investments looking for investment ideas,” he said. “What we are looking for is trends that will give us opportunities for investing.”
Maddox said the best opportunities come from people who understand what is happening in those markets around the world and then finding opportunities.
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