Well-known South African hedge fund managers Jan Meintjes and Richard Cudmore are joining Cape Town-based X-Chequer Fund Management as of February 2011.
Meintjes left Gryphon earlier in the year, where he managed the Gryphon Market Neutral fund since its inception in 2003, a consistent performer through different market cycles. A founder member of Gryphon, he has been in the market for more than 10 years and his skills and experience will be a valuable addition to the X-Chequer team, where he will work on the flagship market-neutral fund.
Cudmore joined Cadiz in 2007, having worked previously at BlueAlpha Investment Management. He launched the standalone Cadiz Tungsten fund in October that year, returning an annualised 17.58% in the three years since inception.
Cudmore will establish his own hedge fund offering at X-Chequer and operate largely independently from a separate office, with X-Chequer providing infrastructure (including licensing), working capital and other business development assistance.
Cadiz Tungsten has had a stellar year, easily leading its category with a return of 17.34% to the end of September. The diversified quantitative variable bias strategy invests in liquid South African equities.
X-Chequer is headed by Werner Prinsloo, who formed the boutique asset manager in 2007 after leaving Fairtree Capital, where he was a founding member. The team includes Walker Naude, Eugene Prinsloo and Nico McDonald.
The company runs two hedge fund strategies – a market-neutral and a long/short fund – and now has assets under management of about R1.1 billion. The market-neutral fund has been closed to new investment for some time now, while the long/short fund remains open, with an anticipated soft close in the coming months.
The addition of two respected managers brings new skills and experience to X-Chequer at a time when investors are looking for strong operational and investment teams. Copyright. HedgeNews Africa – November 2010.