New Managers May 2014

Fund Profile: Eigenvector Capital launches first fund, a systematic value-based strategy, in "ideal time"

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Dr. Nathan Rex spun out of a multi-billion dollar family office to form, together with Sean Ballard, Eigenvector Capital in Stamford, CT on 1st April.

Dr. Rex used to manage systematic strategies while serving as CIO of TRQ Analytics, the internal fund of the family office now named Kokino. He began the proprietary research into a portfolio modeling that became the equity portfolio's backbone for the family office; the subsequent long-only portfolio launched in June 2008, and despite the unfortunate timing, it outperformed all classes of hedged strategies that year. When a short component was added in 2011, the family office allocated capital and a long/short portfolio was launched.

Ballard and Rex started preparing their spinout last year, with the family office as their anchor investor.

Dr Rex's strategy is at the heart for their new long/short equity fund, EvC Alpha Fund, LP, which has just started with $25m in AuM, and is now open to new investors.

"We are a model-oriented strategy, which has six years of track record," Sean Ballard, CEO, tells Opalesque in a recent interview. Prior to Eigenvector, Mr. Ballard was a Director at Palestra Capital Management, which he joined before its launch in 2012.

The two managers, who have known each other for three years, feel now is the right time to become independent.

"Right now we think it's probably the ideal time for the strategy that we employ," Nathan Rex, CIO, explains. "On the long side of our portfolio, we focus on value names, stocks that are cheap relative to what they earn. And on the short side, we focus on stocks that are over-valued relative to what the company can earn."

According to the fund's presentation, academic research confirmed what they have experienced managing a discretionary portfolio: over time, value stocks outperform the broader market. Their propri......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.