Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies (ACPMAS), the alternate asset management arm of Avendus Capital, which manages one of the largest hedge funds in India, has announced the launch of its first quant-based fund, Avendus Market Neutral Fund. The fund seeks to provide long-term, risk-adjusted capital appreciation. ACPMAS continues to be a trusted choice for investors looking to diversify their portfolio and earn risk-adjusted returns. Quant strategies follow a data-driven approach to pick stocks, using pre-defined parameters across various factors including momentum, mean reversion etc. to diminish the role of human bias. Though quant funds are at a nascent stage in India, they own more than 35% of market capitalization in the US1 and are being seen as the next frontier for wealth creation.

Avendus Market Neutral Fund, an open ended, AIF Category III fund, seeks to generate absolute returns over the medium-term, targeting relatively lower volatility and drawdowns as compared to markets, while capturing consistent returns using a combination of quantitative models to create a long-short portfolio. In this strategy, long positions will be equal to short positions leading to virtually zero net exposure. The strategy is designed to capture the dispersion within sectors and stocks. The fund will be managed by Portfolio Managers, Mehul Patel and Gaurik Shah. The duo have been working together for over 10 years, pioneering quant strategies in India.

On the launch of the fund, Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies said, “Using proprietary fundamental stock selection processes and differentiated strategies, we are pioneers in long short strategies in India. We have been building these products over the last two decades underlining our commitment to build wealth over time and protect against market volatility. We are very excited to launch one of the first long-short products in India which is based on data science.”

Vaibhav Sanghavi, Co-CEO, Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies said, “As a multi-strategy fund house, we continue to innovate on themes that are designed to insulate returns from market movements. There's a tremendous opportunity for funds with an institutional investment process, aiding a long term, consistent investment performance, and I believe this unique strategy along with team’s breadth of expertise in capital markets and quantitative research will provide the most favorable diversification to investor portfolios.”

Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies is part of the Avendus Group and manages an AUM of about USD 800 million under long short strategies. It is one of the largest hedge fund managers in India and its flagship scheme – Avendus Absolute Returns Fund was awarded the Best India Hedge Fund by EurekaHedge Global Hedge Fund Awards, Singapore and Best Single Country by AsiaHedge Funds, Hongkong, both in 2019. It’s second fund, Avendus Enhanced Return Fund was awarded the Best Multi Strategy Fund by HFM Asia Performance Awards in 2021.

About Avendus

Avendus Group is a leading provider of financial services with an emphasis on differentiated solutions in the areas of Investment Banking, Wealth Management, Credit Solutions and Asset Management. Avendus relies on its extensive experience, in-depth domain understanding and knowledge of the regulatory environment, to offer customized solutions that enable clients to meet their strategic aspirations.

Established in 1999 in Mumbai, India, Avendus Group’s presence in 10 cities across India, US, UK and Singapore brings together global perspectives and equips our inter-country teams with the expertise to handle complex business requirements of ambitious entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit https://www.avendus.com