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Citing a new report from PerTrac, Impact of Size and Age on Hedge Fund Performance: 1996 – 2011, Tielman said small funds with assets of less than $100m have outperformed large funds (those with assets of over $500m) in 13 out of the last 16 years. In addition, young funds (those started within the previous two years) had cumulative returns of 827% since 1996, well beyond the 350% posted by funds in operation for more than four years.

Alluding to emerging managers as ‘speedboats’ and larger funds as ‘supertankers’, Tielman noted: ‘It’s clear that speedboats are better equipped to explore and navigate the unknown, uncharted waters that make up the “new normal” of the current political and economic environment. Supertankers need a longer time to test the waters and change course, while they need to be prudent to stay in deep waters only. The present economic climate favours the quick and nimble and might punish the large, slow and cumbersome.’

Tielman adds that the ‘new normal’ makes it imperative for institutional investors to shake off their torpor and make allocations to more nimble funds with multiple return drivers and better transparency and governance. Emerging managers deserve to be included by institutional investors in the core of their hedge fund exposure, Tielman asserts.

A further advantage to investors in early stage funds is the unique moment of alignment and the diversification that younger managers offer to a portfolio, within the safety frame provided by an all-round and ‘partner type’ of investment manager, such as IMQ.

There are signs that pension funds continue to embrace early stage managers. IMQ, which seeks to nurture the next generation of hedge fund managers, is itself the beneficiary of a pension fund. It was capitalised in January 2009 with €250mm from APG, the asset manager for Dutch pensions giant Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP,.

The firm, which since inception has been predicated on its robust risk management, has recently appointed industry stalwart Linus Nilsson as Head of Risk Management, to further systematise and centralise the risk management function. Nilsson was previously at Man Investments, where he served as a senior analyst. Pior to that, he was a Risk Manager for the External Fixed Income Group for the Central Bank of Norway.

Established by Jeroen Tielman, now a 25-year veteran of the global institutional industry, IMQ offers an institutional platform where professional investors can gain exposure to emerging managers through the IMQubator multi-manager fund.

Jeroen Tielman was interviewed on Opalesque TV in February 2012. You can watch that interview here.