This year, in the traditional equity L/S strategy category one fund has stayed consistent: Fidelity International’s Fidelity Active Strategy (FAST) Europe 1 EUR ACC fund.PARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

This year, in the traditional equity L/S strategy category one fund has stayed consistent: Fidelity International’s Fidelity Active Strategy (FAST) Europe 1 EUR ACC fund. Since the fund’s launch in 2004 its performance relative to the MSCI Europe Index has been impressive, delivering 46.7 per cent returns over the last five years (versus 1.8 per cent for the Index). Speaking to Hedgeweek, Product Director Alex Homan explains that initially the fund was UCITS non-compliant, using direct short selling and bank loans to achieve its targets, but at the start of 2008 the decision to convert it into a full UCITS structure was taken. “Since Anas Chakra began managing the fund in 2006 it’s up 10.5 per cent versus the Index down -19.1 per cent, so we’re looking at over 8 per cent annualized relative outperformance.” In 2007 the fund’s short exposure was largely concentrated in financials. In 2008 it was real estate. In 2008/9 returns were enhanced by receipt of option premiums. As Homan points out: “The beauty of this fund is the opportunistic way we run it.”