South Africa's Mazi Asset Management is stepping up efforts to grow its NCIS Qualified Long Short Hedge Fund, a conviction-driven equity strategy that has quietly outperformed over multiple timeframes, according to a report by CityWire.

After years of operating in the shadow of Mazi’s long-only products, the fund is now being actively promoted, backed by a dedicated hedge team and refined portfolio construction approach.

As of May 2025, the fund managed ZAR8.5m in assets and delivered a 12-month return of 15.9%, nearly doubling its STeFI Composite benchmark. Over three and five years, it returned 13.7% and 9% annually, respectively, versus 6.1% from the benchmark in both periods.

Despite using STeFI as a reference, the fund is entirely benchmark-agnostic. Position sizes are determined by the investment team’s conviction, adjusted for risk and liquidity.

High-conviction long positions in British American Tobacco, Naspers, Momentum Group, and South African government bonds were key return drivers over the past year. Losses were tightly managed, with exits from underperformers like Afrimat and South32 as conviction waned. “

After gaining more autonomy in 2019, the hedge fund team has refined its positioning, enabling more nimble decision-making. The fund’s philosophy centres on delivering equity-like returns with controlled downside risk by concentrating exposure in a few high-conviction names, all while actively managing net exposure.