Sunday Times South Africa – You can cover your bets with the better funds, but don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t expect to beat the equity market when the bull is really running.<\/p>\n
The winning investment managers at this week\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s third annual Symmetry Hedge Fund Awards showed their mettle by beating the returns of the JSE over the past year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But the median return was more pedestrian and showed that hedge funds won\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t always beat the market in a strong bull run.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The best return for the year came from the Oryx Segregated Fund, managed by Heiko van Wyngaarden. It delivered a return of 46.5% in 2006 – 5% better than the JSE.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This was in the long-short equity category of funds which is still the largest category in terms of the number of managers and assets under management.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The category was also the best category in terms of returns for the third year running, with the average funds giving a return of just over 27% – notably less than the JSE\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s return .<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Best market- neutral fund was the Stanlib Quasar Fund, which delivered a return of 18%. The average market-neutral fund did 12.4%.<\/p>\n