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.  

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: