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All Weather Capital scoops the Market Neutral Hedge Fund award at the 2021 HedgeNews Africa Awards once again. The company was further nominated for Best Fund of the Year and for the best Long Short Hedge Fund at the awards. The company is no stranger to success, having won both the Market Neutral and the Long Short categories in 2020 and the best Long Short Fund Manager in 2015.
The specialist asset manager trumped stiff competition in the Market Neutral category with its fund (The All Weather H4 Market Neutral Retail Hedge Fund) gaining 28.42% over the calendar year with a Sharpe ratio* of 4.8, which delivered significantly stronger returns than its peers. The FTSE/JSE shareholder weighted All Share Index (SWIX) returned 21% over the same period.
The company’s Long Short Hedge Fund (The All Weather H4 Performance Retail Hedge Fund), which was nominated in the Long Short category in 2021, delivered a 38.32% return, with a Sharpe ratio* of 4.6.
The eight-year-old, black-controlled fund management company boasts an experienced team of passionate investment professionals and currently has R11 billion in assets under management.
The awards, now in their thirteenth year, measure the best risk-adjusted returns of funds based on monthly data submitted to the HedgeNews Africa database.
The ceremony took place at the Lourensford wine estate in Somerset West on 10 March 2022, following the HedgeNews Africa Symposium, where All Weather Capital’s founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Shane Watkins, participated as an industry expert.
“We are delighted and honoured,” said Watkins. “The award is testament of our exceptional team whose deep insights have delivered consistent performance after a bullish year for equity markets and stiff competition across categories.”
Deputy CIO and SA Equity Portfolio Manager, Sanelisiwe Tofile attributes the company’s continued success to its unique blend of insights from its product range and disciplined investment process. “The secret is our product suite, which includes SA equity products, two SA hedge funds and a global emerging market fund which, when overlapped, are all synergistic. This allows us to outperform the industry and deliver equity-like returns at below equity levels of risk,” he said.
“We are style agnostic; we don’t follow a particular style despite the fact that one style could prevail over long periods of time. We also find it impractical to segment the JSE in value/growth, considering how much the JSE has shrunk over the past 10 years,” said Tofile.
According to Executive Chairman, John Oliphant, the days of continued upward trends are in the past.
“In an uncertain world, where we are faced with a negative outlook, high inflation and low growth, hedge funds tend to produce better returns, which are specifically designed to mitigate the impact of market volatility,” he said.
Despite generating sustainable returns, hedge funds have largely been overlooked, accounting for less than 2% of South Africa’s total savings industry.
This is set to change, as the newly proposed amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act will allow up to 10% of retirement savings allocations to be invested in hedge funds.
“For All Weather Capital, business is not only about making a difference to investors, it’s about providing sustainable superior investment returns, ensuring that we play a part in the transformation of the industry and the companies in which we invest,” said Oliphant.
“Responsible investing (RI), is one of the cornerstones of All Weather Capital’s investment philosophy,” he said, pointing out that companies who consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues as an integral part of doing business tend to be sustainable in the long term. “RI means incorporating ESG issues as a part of our investment decision-making processes and pricing these risks, to ensure superior, sustainable long-term returns for our clients.”
Informed by a proprietary ESG framework, All Weather Capital engages with and challenges investee companies to become better corporate citizens.
But then “Doing Good” is wired into the company’s DNA. Executive Chairman, John Oliphant, was instrumental in drafting the Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa (CRISA) in 2011 and continues to chair the industry body responsible for overseeing the implementation of the code.
The All Weather Capital investment process subscribes to best practice in terms of CRISA. It is also a signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing (UNPRI).
(Deputy Chief Investment Officer)
“Given its size, All Weather Capital has had a disproportionate impact on skills transfer in the industry; the company has gone a long way in providing young black professionals with the opportunity to advance in asset management”, said Watkins. Over the past eight years, 15 young black professionals have had an opportunity to enter the investment industry, four of whom have progressed within the company, including deputy CIO, Sanelisiwe Tofile, who joined All Weather as a junior analyst in 2014.
“I believe we have the right people and processes, which when combined with our unmatched passion for investment can only continue to deliver superior financial performance. I look forward to what we can achieve as a team in the year ahead,” said Watkins.
*Performance is shown net of all portfolio charges and expenses and includes the reinvestment of distributions.
