Hedge Fund Awards 2015

Hedge Fund Awards 2015 www.acquisition-intl.com 70 Corporate Profile The team at Grand Slam Asset Management is made up of entrepreneurs and business executives who have taken their management know-how and combined it with a strict value investing style to generate market beating returns Grand Slam Asset Management LLC (named for our founder’s four children) is the investment manager of a US small cap value hedge fund with a successful 13+ year track record. Our team is made up of entrepreneurs and business executives who have taken their management know-how and combined it with a strict value investing style to generate market beating returns. The portfolio management team began working together in 1996 when, prior to opening Grand Slam, they built a small cap operating business from $8MM to $250MM in revenues. Prior to that our founder and CIO, Mitchell Sacks, worked on Wall Street as a broker, commercial banker and investment banker and his Co-PM, Erik Volfing, was a commercial lender to the entertainment and media industries. We utilize our knowledge of how to op- erate a business as well as traditional Wall Street experience to invest the fund. Our unique style and background allow us to identify equity investment opportunities that other managers miss. We run a concentrated portfolio of about 22 names focused on investments that we believe can at least double in value over a two year period. Once we identify an investment oppor- tunity, we perform extensive due diligence. This includes visiting the Company’s operating sites, meeting with middle management, attending trade shows and conventions and talking to customers and competitors. We believe this allows Grand Slam to recognize a turn in a business’ fortunes before it is evident in its reported performance. Avenir Capital is an investment firm specializing in fundamen- tal, value oriented, and special situation investments in global equity markets. We spoke to Christine Jurzenski, Investment Analyst at Avenir, on how their private equity background emphasizes bottom up research, long-term absolute returns, and an intense focus on minimizing downside risk. At Avenir Capital, our process involves 4 major steps. The first step is to invest in special situations and quality companies undergoing change. By doing this we can buy at a 50% discount to a growing intrinsic value. Our second step is to worry about the downside, and exercise discipline in avoiding investment ideas that involve unquantifiable risks or unacceptably high risk of permanent capital loss. For the third step, we focus on absolute, not relative, returns and do not focus on index hugging in any way. This allows our best ideas to drive performance in a relatively concentrated manner. And finally our 4th step is to invest with a longer time horizon than many investors. This allows us to benefit from opportunities that others miss due to lack of patience or discipline. As well as this process, a principle we strongly believe in is that an investment manager’s interests should be firmly aligned with their clients. Unfortunately, this is an all too infrequent occurrence in todays institutionalized investment market. We’re a company that likes to see our investors more as partners. To ensure alignment, we have the vast bulk of our own investable assets invested in the fund alongside our investors. We also have a fee structure that promotes align- ment. The company charges a fixed annual management fee of zero and only earn a performance fee when the fund Grand Slam Asset Management Name: Mitchell Sacks Tel: +1 201 346 4336 Email: [email protected] Web: www.gslamcap.com delivers at least a 6% annual return to our investors. In other words, if we don’t make at least 6% annually (which we see as a nominal cash interest rate) for our investors, we do not get paid anything. Another aspect of Avenir that works in our favour is our loca- tion. We are based in Sydney, Australia, which, given Austral- ia’s international heritage and global outlook, allows us to be comfortable when hunting out the best bargains globally. Avenir Capital Name: Christine Jurzenski Email: [email protected] Web: www.avenircapital.com.au Address: Level 11, 2 Bulletin Place, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia Phone: +61 2 8031 7742 Best Long/Short US Equity Value Fund (10 year) Best Absolute Return Hedge Fund Manager – Australia