New York (HedgeCo.net) – Quant-based hedge funds have been among the top performing strategies in what is turning out to be a tough year for the hedge fund industry as a whole. According to research group HFR and the HFRI Quantitative Directional Index, the average quant fund is up 0.13% on the year while the average hedge fund as a whole is down 1.35%. Both of those figures are calculated through the end of September while the S&P was down 6.74% over the same time period.

Perhaps it is the performance of quant funds as a whole that led the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to invest some of their assets with a relatively new quant fund, Engineers Gate. A recent Reuters’s article reported the investment from the pension fund with the hedge fund.

Engineers Gate was formed in early 2014 and the assets are managed by a team of portfolio managers that includes former employees from other quant firms such as SAC Capital and Citadel. In addition to an experienced investment team, the firm can also boast of a minority ownership by Paul Tudor Jones.

Rick Pendergraft
Research Analyst
HedgeCoVest