Key Takeaways
- • Kairos Partners dominated Italian equity categories, winning best performer awards across KIS Italia (10-year), KIS Made in Italy (2 and 7-year periods), and KIS KEY regulated utility specialist fund (2025, 2, 3, and 5-year periods), demonstrating sustained outperformance in domestic and specialist mandates.
- • Tungsten Capital's AI-driven CTA strategy achieved exceptional consistency, with Tungsten TRYCON AI Global Markets winning best performer honors across five measurement periods (2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years) in the short-term trader category.
- • Assenagon secured multiple awards across distinct strategies, winning best performer accolades in volatility dispersion (3-year), fund of funds (2, 3, 7, and 10-year periods), demonstrating breadth of execution across asset classes and time horizons.
- • Currency and credit specialists showed sustained outperformance, with EMCORE Asset Management's Emcore COP winning four consecutive measurement periods (2, 3, 5, 7-year) in currency trading, while LBP AM's LBPAM ISR Absolute Return Credit I won 2025 and 3-year awards in credit long/short.
- • Emerging market and fixed income alternatives generated consistent returns, with RBC BlueBay Asset Management capturing awards in emerging market credit (BlueBay Emerging Markets Unconstrained Bond Fund) and rates long/short (BlueBay Global Sovereign Opportunities Fund over 10 years).
Summary
The 2026 UCITS Hedge Awards recognized top-performing hedge funds and alternative strategies across 15+ categories, highlighting sustained outperformance in systematized, specialized, and multi-asset approaches to hedging and relative value strategies. Awards were distributed across a diverse set of fund managers managing strategies from equity market neutral and volatility dispersion to emerging market credit and currency trading.
Kairos Partners emerged as a significant winner, capturing four separate award categories with Italian-focused and utility-specialist mandates. The firm's long/short equity funds demonstrated particular strength: KIS Italia won the best performer award over the 10-year period, while KIS Made in Italy won awards spanning 2 and 7-year measurement windows. KIS KEY, the firm's regulated utility specialist fund, achieved exceptional consistency with awards across 2025 and three separate multi-year periods (2, 3, and 5 years), signaling stable performance in defensive, regulated equity exposure.
Systematic and algorithmic strategies demonstrated robust performance throughout the awards. Tungsten Capital's Tungsten TRYCON AI Global Markets, a CTA short-term trader fund, won best performer honors across all five measured time periods (2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years), suggesting the strategy's ability to deliver consistent alpha across market cycles. Similarly, Assenagon captured awards in volatility dispersion over three years and dominated the fund-of-funds category with its Multi Asset Conservative fund winning best performer recognition across four measurement periods (2, 3, 7, and 10 years).
Specialized strategies in fixed income and currency markets contributed significantly to award winners. RBC BlueBay Asset Management won in emerging market credit with its Unconstrained Bond Fund and secured a 10-year best performer award in rates long/short with its Global Sovereign Opportunities Fund. EMCORE Asset Management's Emcore COP currency trader fund demonstrated sustained excellence, winning awards across four consecutive measurement periods (2, 3, 5, and 7 years). LBP AM's LBPAM ISR Absolute Return Credit I captured awards in credit long/short for both 2025 and the 3-year period, indicating relevance of ESG-integrated absolute return credit strategies.
Additional award winners included Mandatum Managed Futures (CTA trend following under $150m AUM, 2025 and 2/3-year awards), Barclays US Equities Volatility Premium Fund (short volatility quantitative over 5 years), HanseMerkur Trust AG's HMT Euro Seasonal Long/Short (equity index long/short over 3 years), Union Investment's UniInstitutional Equities Market Neutral (European equity market neutral discretionary, 2, 3, and 5-year awards), and Ellipsis AM's Optimal Solutions Alternative Hedging (best new launch in long volatility and tail risk). The breadth of category winners underscores investor demand for specialized, measurably outperforming hedge fund strategies across multiple risk premia and geographies.
Kairos Partners emerged as a significant winner, capturing four separate award categories with Italian-focused and utility-specialist mandates. The firm's long/short equity funds demonstrated particular strength: KIS Italia won the best performer award over the 10-year period, while KIS Made in Italy won awards spanning 2 and 7-year measurement windows. KIS KEY, the firm's regulated utility specialist fund, achieved exceptional consistency with awards across 2025 and three separate multi-year periods (2, 3, and 5 years), signaling stable performance in defensive, regulated equity exposure.
Systematic and algorithmic strategies demonstrated robust performance throughout the awards. Tungsten Capital's Tungsten TRYCON AI Global Markets, a CTA short-term trader fund, won best performer honors across all five measured time periods (2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years), suggesting the strategy's ability to deliver consistent alpha across market cycles. Similarly, Assenagon captured awards in volatility dispersion over three years and dominated the fund-of-funds category with its Multi Asset Conservative fund winning best performer recognition across four measurement periods (2, 3, 7, and 10 years).
Specialized strategies in fixed income and currency markets contributed significantly to award winners. RBC BlueBay Asset Management won in emerging market credit with its Unconstrained Bond Fund and secured a 10-year best performer award in rates long/short with its Global Sovereign Opportunities Fund. EMCORE Asset Management's Emcore COP currency trader fund demonstrated sustained excellence, winning awards across four consecutive measurement periods (2, 3, 5, and 7 years). LBP AM's LBPAM ISR Absolute Return Credit I captured awards in credit long/short for both 2025 and the 3-year period, indicating relevance of ESG-integrated absolute return credit strategies.
Additional award winners included Mandatum Managed Futures (CTA trend following under $150m AUM, 2025 and 2/3-year awards), Barclays US Equities Volatility Premium Fund (short volatility quantitative over 5 years), HanseMerkur Trust AG's HMT Euro Seasonal Long/Short (equity index long/short over 3 years), Union Investment's UniInstitutional Equities Market Neutral (European equity market neutral discretionary, 2, 3, and 5-year awards), and Ellipsis AM's Optimal Solutions Alternative Hedging (best new launch in long volatility and tail risk). The breadth of category winners underscores investor demand for specialized, measurably outperforming hedge fund strategies across multiple risk premia and geographies.
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