The Best Performing Fund In 2023? Helikon Investments
Returning 85.11% YTD, the ex-Kairos investors took the number one spot.
Since the start of the year, we have dedicated our Sunday articles to some of the best investors and business individuals that the world has had to offer, both in the past and in the present.
We’ve dived into the careers and investment philosophies of the greats, such as Warren Buffett and the late Charlie Munger. More recent investment titans, such as Bill Ackman and Terry Smith, also received reports looking into what the average investor can take away from their example. We also focused on the business side of things, such as Mark Cuban and John D. Rockefeller.
But as this year comes to a close, we wanted to see what Hedge Fund took the top spot for performance in 2023. There was one name that stood out: Helikon Investments.
2023 Performance
Helikon Investments took gold amongst Mutual Funds when we take a look at Bloomberg. There were two funds ahead of the firm, Global X Ultra Long Nasdaq 100 and Short Vix Futures ETF. However, these are not actively managed (but well done if you were long either of these at the start of the year. +136.75% and +131.86% must be nice).
Helikon actually outperformed the second highest Equity Long/Short fund by 29.22%, achieving a YTD return of 85.11%.
We must note, the year is not over and the above figures are taken from the latest 13F filing from the firms. But as of the latest records published, Helikon is the out-performer.
Let’s take a dive into the company and their holdings.
Helikon Investments
A team of five Italian fund managers left Kairos, the Italian subsidiary of Julius Baer, in 2019 to set up a new equity hedge fund. Â
Federico Riggio, Michele Fiumara, David Grazzini, Flavio Russo, and Vittorio Villa, who were overseeing the Kairos Pegasus Fund, then launched their new firm in Q2 of 2020.
The investment house is based in London and Milan.
As of the latest 13F filing, the firm has 2.47B in assets under management (AUM).
The biggest takeaway when looking into the company’s current holdings is the focus on commodities.
37% of assets are in Eldorado Gold Corp (NYSE: EGO) and Centerra Gold Inc (NYSE: CGAU). Both companies are gold miners. Gold recently broke out to new all-time highs. Miners have lagged behind the performance of the precious metal but may play catch-up in 2024.
One of the other large holdings is Vista Energy (NYSE: VIST). The company is focused on supplying high-calorific coal and has expertise in carbon commodities, the energy industry, and international trade.
A 2023 Recap
Here’s a recap of our top Investor Insights in 2023:
A Tribute To Charlie Munger
Charlie Munger, the vice-chair of Berkshire Hathaway, died at the age of 99 on Tuesday morning at a California hospital, the US investment conglomerate announced. Munger was the alter ego, sidekick and foil to Warren Buffett for almost 60 years as they transformed Berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile maker into an empire.
Managing The UK's Largest Retail Fund
After featuring several famous investors from abroad over the past few weeks, we head back to the UK. This week, we wanted to focus on Anthony Bolton, a name that might not carry the gravitas of more well-known counterparts but an incredibly shrewd stock picker who deserves more light shone on his talent.
Benjamin Graham - The Father Of Value Investing
Benjamin Graham was a well-known investor whose securities research established the foundation for the detailed fundamental valuation that is currently employed by all market players in company analysis. His famous book The Intelligent Investor is now acknowledged as the founding text of value investing.
Meet Wall Street's Longest Serving CEO
This week, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been in the news relating to the fact that he will sell some of his shares in the bank next year. This would mark the first time in almost 18 years at the helm that he will do so. Even though this is for "financial diversification and tax-planning purposes," there’s some element of Dimon reaching towards the end …
The Greatest Investor You've Probably Never Heard Of
Neff ran the Windsor Fund at Wellington for over three decades, easily beating the performance of the S&P 500 over his tenure. He focused on picking undervalued stocks via the Dividend Adjusted PEG Ratio. One of his best trades was buying Ford at 2.5x earnings, which netted him $450M in profits back in 1987.