Sun, Sep 6, 2026
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Alternative Market Briefing

Merger Arbitrage takes the lead in hedge fund space performance

Friday, February 19, 2021

Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Risk assets experienced a strong rebound in recent weeks, which benefitted Directional L/S (+3.8%) and Special Situation (+2.7%) strategies on a month-to-date basis, said Lyxor.

CTAs also posted solid returns during the same period, up +3.1%. On a negative note, Market Neutral L/S keep underperforming and was only up +0.6%.

"In recent months, Market Neutral L/S strategies underperformed other hedge fund strategies, in a context where risk assets rallied following the Pfizer vaccine announcement in November 2020. While the strategy is not designed to capture the equity market beta, the alpha contribution has declined since Q4-2020. Our stance on the strategy remains Underweight on the back of its exposure to the Momentum risk factor, which appears poorly suited for the current environment," Lyxor said in its briefing.

On a year-to-date basis, Merger Arbitrage remains the best performing strategy (+2.4%) in a context where SPACs experienced a sharp rebound (+17.9% for the IPOX SPAC Index year-to-date).

Global Macro strategies underperformed so far year-to date (+0.8%) as EM-focused Macro strategies were virtually flat (+0.2%) and Systematic Macro returns were minimal (+0.5%).

Momentum correlation to value stocks is deeply negative

The correlation of Momentum returns with defensive risk factors such as Quality and Anti-Beta remains quite elevated, which suggests that Momentum remains a defensive risk factor at presen......................

To view our full article Click here

Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. Other Voices: Nvidia extraordinary growth and the challenge of sustaining demanding valuations over time[more]

    Antonio Di Giacomo, Senior Market Analyst at XS.com, writes: Nvidia has established itself as one of the most extraordinary growth companies in the global technology sector. Over the past two fiscal years, its revenues have risen from levels close to $60 billion annually to well above $120 billi

  2. Opalesque Exclusive: Private Markets Evergreen Funds - An Insider's View[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Private Markets Evergreen Funds: What Investors Need to Know Before They Dive In The democratization of private markets is well underway. Structural barriers t

  3. KRX chief courts CalPERS for bigger bet on Korea[more]

    Korea Exchange Chairman and CEO Jeong Eun-bo held talks with California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, to promote greater investment in South Korea's capital markets, the bourse operator announced Wednesday. Jeong met with CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gilmore.

  4. 755 Unicorns, $8 Trillion: Fifth Era maps the autonomous digital economy[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Fifth Era Partners, a specialized asset manager focused on the convergence of Internet, AI/Agentic and Blockchain technologies, has released the findings of its 13th Bia

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: Governance, Scale, and Boutique Resilience in a Consolidating Hedge Fund Industry[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: The hedge fund industry has undergone significant consolidation in recent years, with capital increasingly concentrated among large multi-strategy platforms. Yet boutique m