Hedge Fund Awards 2015

Hedge Fund Awards 2015 www.acquisition-intl.com 67 The perfect synergy: Edge combines world-class partnerships, a wealth of expertise and the like-minded pursuit of excellence to create a unique investment team that far exceeds the sum of its parts. Managing Director, Mike Kirsten explains more… Edge is leading South Africa’s alternative investment industry through: ● Co-operation: We leverage our internal intellectual capital through partnerships with leaders in segmented disciplines to provide truly innovative, flexible and unique financial solutions. ● Innovation: First-to-market with innovative products, Edge offers a fresh approach to the challenges that face the invest- ment arena in South Africa. ● Creation: We create innovative financial solutions by constantly adapting our products to the evolving investment environment – always keeping in mind that the preservation of wealth is as important as its creation. ● Diversification: Through an association with our international partners, we are able to provide our clients with access to a broader range of international opportunities in alternative assets and emerging markets. We don’t believe that the entire complement of intellectual cap- ital or expertise can exist within any one organisation. In pursuit of our investment goals, Edge selects independent managers who have the skills and ability to provide the building blocks for viable, sustainable and world-class investment solutions. Award for Excellence in Alternative Strategy Funds - South Africa Name: Mike Kirsten Email: [email protected] Web: www.edge.co.za Address: Edge House, 3 Heuwelkruin Close, Durbanville, 7550, Cape Town, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 21 976 1012 Fax: +27 (0) 21 976 1096 Fact File Best Outperforming Event-Driven Hedge Fund - Australia Name: John Sampson Email: [email protected] Web: www.jbsinvestments.com Address: JBS Investments, Level 8, Westfield Towers, 100 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2011 Australia Tel: +61 2 8035 0036 Fact File Edge seeks to partner and invest with managers who exhibit the following traits: • FSB registered as a hedge fund manager • Skill-based investment strategies (high alpha) • Strategies which are not dependent on market direction (low beta) • A proven track record • A sophisticated investment approach (employs all tools of modern finance) • Boutique teams • An alignment of interest (managers invest along- side their clients) With an understanding of the behavioural characteristics of the various alternative investment styles, we utilise several investment approaches to create a stable, low-risk, robust absolute return vehicle. n JBS Investments is a leading investment management firm that invests in a wide range of companies and financial instruments within both the major industrialised nations and a number of emerging markets. The firm has deep roots in event-driven value investing, diverse investment capabilities and an impressive track record. Chief Investment Officer, John Sampson tells us more… The central focus of our firm is the pursuit of attractive investment opportunities. Such opportunities form the basis of our funds and other related investment vehicles, which we manage on behalf of our clients. The firm’s investment activ- ities are value-driven and based on disciplined fundamental analysis and research. The firm seeks to maximise our investors’ capital by investing in mispriced securities where we can ascertain the reason for the market’s mispricing. The firm relies on its own forensic research ability to both source new opportunities and to artic- ulate the investment case for a given position. The firm looks for companies that are out of favor, have unjustifiably cheap valuations, are not well covered by sell-side research analysts or otherwise overlooked by the market. The flexibility of having access to various international markets allows us to invest where we see the best value opportunities on a risk-adjusted basis. Most of our investments have histori- cally been made in a variety of international stock markets. As investors with a global focus, we think long-term, pursue the highest standards of excellence, and align our interests with those of our investment partners by putting our own capital behind our ideas. The firm’s culture emphasizes creativity and flexible thinking in our search for unique investment insights. It is a perfor- mance driven culture where the focus is on managing our investors’ capital to achieve above average returns with limited downside risk. We are disciplined in waiting for appropriate opportunities to emerge and prepared to be patient as our investment thesis plays out over time. We are entrepreneurial – our investment team consider themselves business analysts first and foremost, and each investment is viewed as a purchase of a business. This approach requires our investment team to gain in-depth first- hand knowledge of the companies they invest in. Independent thought is encouraged and all our investment research is performed in-house. We align our own interests with those of our investors by maintaining the vast majority of our net wealth in our funds. A key competitive advantage of the firm is the expertise it has developed investing in companies or countries that are in transition and are misunderstood as a result. This may be due to either a corporate event (such as a recapitalisation, restruc- ture, merger, divestment or bankruptcy), complexity, appear- ance of conflict of interest issues, accounting that does not reflect the underlying economics of the business or a wider event of some kind (be it industry, environmental, economic or currency-related). The heightened uncertainty involved in such situations often leaves investors reluctant to act due to the lack of the usual easy to follow investment metrics. About the Fund Launched in 2011, the JBS Investments International Advantage Fund is a leading investment fund focused on event driven value oriented opportunities in global markets. The investment objective of the Fund is to achieve superior investment returns over the long term. n Edge Capital JBS Investments International Advantage Fund