Home / News / Top alternatives managers crowned on hedge funds’ night of nights

Perpetual, Victor Smorgon Partners and Rixon Capital took out some of the top gongs at the Australian Alternative Investment Awards, but the big win was for those who have worked tirelessly to professionalise Australia’s hedge funds landscape.

The Australian Alternative Investment Awards, held in conjunction with the Hedge Funds Rock charity night at the Sydney Hilton, presented an opportunity for alts managers to celebrate their wins, give back to the community through the Alternative Future Foundation’s (AFF) charity partners, and to tear their eyes away from the S&P’s near-ceaseless march higher (that more complex, more volatile and more challenging market environment will emerge any day now).

AFF can look back in its work with no small amount of pride, with circa $5 million raised for charities including Noro Music Therapy, Women’s Community Shelters, Tranby and Red Kite. That amount should have increased as the champagne flowed and the purse strings of Australia’s top alts managers loosened.

“Our thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers, judges, event staff, partners, fund managers and attendees for being part of last night’s HFR 2024 and The Australian Alterative Investment Awards,” said AIMA chief Michael Gallagher. “The generosity from our industry was on show last night. HFR is the flagship event in Sydney Alterative Investment Week and the foundation is proud to support our worthy charities.  Our congratulations to all the winners and finalists in all the various award categories.”

The hedge fund industry’s night of nights caps off a busy week for AIMA and the Alternative Future Foundation, which has expanded its charitable efforts and this year began to invest its financial reserves with a bevy of alternatives managers. ISN couldn’t be on the ground to watch the proceedings unfold, but it was kindly provided with a list of all the winners by the AFF. See the bottom of this article for the full list of winners and runners-up, but here’s the ISN takeaways.

While Phil King’s Regal might be the biggest hedge fund story of 2024, lobbing bids for Platinum and a host of other managers as it looks to come out on top of the ASX-listed fundie pile-on, it lost out to quant house Acadian in the single category it was nominated in: best long/short equity fund, with the Acadian fund returning a cool (one year annualised) 15.2 per cent over the benchmark. Meanwhile, Victor Smorgon Partners – the investment manager of the Smorgon family office – was crowned best multi-strategy manager for a second year running.

But after international systematic powerhouse CFM took out the top gong last year, 2024 saw a timely reversion to the (domestic) mean: Metrics Credit Partners was crowned best alternative investment manager, while best emerging manager went to Rixon Capital, which narrowly lost out to MA Financial in the private debt category.

And this year it was Franklin Templeton that won gold for best offshore manager operating in Australia; its K2 affiliate was nominated for best market neutral fund but was beaten by Perpetual’s Pure Equity Alpha, which has been a runner up for three years running, while another affiliate, Martin Currie, was nominated for its Sustainable Equity Fund and as a contender for offshore manager.

But it’s the contributor of the year that’s always of greatest importance to ISN, and the hedge fund industry. This year it went to Les Andrews, CEO of Constantia Investment Partners, whose contributions – including as a director of Australian Students Asset Management, a member of ACI’s executive committee, and an advocate for uplift in the sophistication and professionalisation of the local hedge fund industry – have largely been made in his spare time.

“He’s very passionate about good process, and also making the industry better,” Gallagher told ISN. “He’s been at the forefront of – post-GFC – turning the hedge fund industry into something more professional. He’s dragged it to that kicking and screaming; pre-GFC, it was two men and a Bloomberg and an Excel spreadsheet. But Les has always said ‘No – let’s professionalise this industry and make it top notch and world class’. He’s led the charge on that.”

Best Private Debt Fund
MA Secured Loan Series Fund – Class A (w)
Avari 1st Mortgage real Estate Fund
Rixon Income Fund

Best Long/Short Equity Fund
Acadian Wholesale Global Equity L/S Fund (w)
Regal Australian Small Companies Fund

Best Market Neutral Fund
Perpetual Pure Equity Alpha (w)
Bennelong Market Neutral Fund
Franklin K2 Athena Risk Premia

Best Multi-strategy Fund
Victor Smorgon Partners Global Multi-Strategy Fund (w)
Alvia Family Office Fund
LGT Multi-Alternatives Australia Fund

Best Global Macro/Managed Futures Fund
ECCM Systematic Trend Fund – AUD Wholesale Class (w)
Aspect Absolute Return Fund
Aviva Investors Multi-Strategy Target Return Fund

Best Alternative Fixed Income & Credit Fund
Metrics Direct Income Fund (w)
Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund
Perpetual Pure Credit Alpha Fund – Class W

Best Listed Alternative Investment Product
Metrics Master Income Trust “ASX: MST” – (w)
Metrics Income Opportunities Trust “ASX: MOT”
Loftus Peak Global Disruption Fund “ASX: LPGD”

Best Emerging Manager
Rixon Capital (w)
Langdon Equity Partners
Epsilon Direct Lending

Best Investor Supporting Australian Managers Award
Lucerne Investment Partners (w)
Atrium Investment Management

Best Offshore Manager Operating in Australia Award
Franklin Templeton (w)
Arcadian
Martin Currie

Best Specialist ESG Fund
Acadian Wholesale Geared Sustainable Global Equity Fund (w)
Franklin Global Responsible Investment Fund
Martin Currie Sustainable Equity Fund

Best 2024 Alternative Investment Manager Award
Metrics Credit Partners

2024 Contribution to the Industry Award
Mr. Les Andrews