The Waha MENA Equity Fund, flagship fund of Waha Capital PJSC (ADX: WAHA), a leading investment management company based in Abu Dhabi, ranks 15th in the latest 2022 survey by the Global Investment Report of the world’s top 50 hedge funds. The Waha MENA Equity Fund climbed seven spots on this year’s list and is the only hedge fund based in the MENA region to feature in the ranking.
Since its inception in 2014, the Waha MENA Equity Fund has yielded a cumulative return of 280.6% (as of 31 August 2022), equivalent to an annualised net rate of return of 16.7%. In comparison, the reference S&P Pan Arab Composite Index provided a cumulative return of 75.6%, equivalent to an annualised rate of return of 6.7%. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty and strong headwinds in global capital markets, the Fund continues its solid track record of consistent outperformance, returning 12.61% year-to-date, against the reference S&P Pan Arab Composite Index which has returned 7.2%.
Taking a diversified investment approach, the Waha MENA Equity Fund invests primarily across nine countries in the MENA region, from Morocco through to Oman. The Fund’s consistent performance is underpinned by Waha Capital’s strong research capabilities, that combine top-down macroeconomic views with bottom-up company analyses in constructing and managing the portfolio.
Mohamed El Jamal, Chief Investment Officer for Waha Capital’s Public Markets Business and Lead Portfolio Manager of the Waha MENA Equity Fund, said: “It is an honour for our Waha MENA Equity Fund to be recognised, once again, as one of the top 50 hedge funds globally. It is a testament to the skill and dedication of our team that our Fund is ranked among the top 15 funds in the world and remains the only fund featured from the MENA region. This prestigious distinction reflects our decade-long focus on investing and advancing our emerging markets asset management platform. We share and celebrate this outstanding achievement with our long-standing investors and stakeholders in the UAE and beyond.”
Waha Capital under its Public Markets Business also manages two more funds, namely, the Waha CEEMEA Credit Fund and the Waha Islamic Income Fund, the latter of which invests in Shariah-compliant assets across sukuk and equity markets.
This year’s survey, published under the banner Global Investment Report, is the 19th annual global hedge fund report to be independently conducted by veteran New York-based financial analyst, Eric Uhlfelder. The 50 funds featured in the survey are required to manage at least US$300 million to ensure reliability of the data. A key component of the robust assessment methodology for determining the ranking, is the performance hurdles set for each of the past four years over a trailing five-year returns period, to determine which funds are among the most consistent absolute return funds that consider downside risk. This approach eliminates highly volatile funds with fluctuating performance from one year to the next, prioritising superior long-term strategies over short-term opportunism.
Waha Capital has also recently been named under Forbes Middle East’s Top 30 Asset Management Companies 2022. This is the second consecutive year the Company has been recognised under this list.
The 2021 Survey of The Top 50 Hedge Funds is an independent survey. The 17 previous editions were commissioned by The Financial Times, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, and SALT. Other hedge funds recognised in the survey were Tiger Global Investments (New York), Element Capital (New York), Citadel Wellington (Chicago) and D.E. Shaw Composite (New York).
