Eurekahedge and ILS Advisers launch index tracking performance of insurance-linked investment funds

Hedge fund data and performance information provider, Eurekahedge, have teamed up with newly formed Asia based insurance-linked securities investment consultant, ILS Advisers, to put together an index which tracks the performance of the included insurance-linked investment funds. It’s the first index of its kind which allows investors and interested parties to analyse how the overall ILS investment fund market and also the specific funds and managers are performing. Artemis are pleased to be able to bring a view of this index to you through a partnership with ILS Advisers and Eurekahedge.

The Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index is an equally weighted index of hedge funds who explicitly allocate their funds under management to insurance-linked investments (including but not limited to insurance-linked securities and catastrophe bonds). All included funds have at least 70% of their portfolio invested in non-life risk. The index was goes back to December 2005, and since that date has returned 52.38% through January 2012. The annualised return of the index is 7.17% and it has extremely low volatility say Eurekahedge, producing one of the highest Sharpe ratios of all of the Eurekahedge indices at 2.27.

The chart below shows the comparative performance between the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers index versus the Mizuho-Eurekahedge Index and the MSCI All Countries World Index which are more representative of typical investment indices. The Eurekahedge ILS Advisers index shows little volatility and a much smoother, positive return.

Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index Performance

“Eurekahedge is delighted to be working with ILS Advisers on this new project. We both share the same vision of being at the cutting edge of innovative investment opportunities for sophisticated investors and with the launch of our new index we hope to bring more exposure to this fresh asset class.” said Alexander Mearns, CEO of Eurekahedge.

Mr Mearns goes on to say, “In the current market environment trying to find superior risk adjusted returns is like looking for black cats in a coal mine. Insurance linked securities hedge funds are those cats!”

“The launch of the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index shows our commitment, to identify and monitor the best ILS managers globally and bring them to professional investors in Asia”, says Stefan Kräuchi co-founder of ILS Advisers.

“The new index combines the expertise of ILS Advisers in the insurance linked investment space with the know-how, experience and reputation of Eurekahedge as the top index provider in the alternative investment area. A perfect match”, says Stefan Kräuchi, co-founder of ILS Advisers.

“The new index will bring additional interest to an asset class that is still barely known in Asia despite its stellar track record over the last ten years with high yield bond like returns, a volatility of less than high grade corporate bonds and no negative year”, continued Stefan Kräuchi.

Having visibility of the investment managers relative performance is clearly important for investors in the sector and to date that information has only been available by digging into each individual funds reports manually. The launch of this index will help investors with this goal to some extent.

Artemis is pleased to be able to bring you a view of this index which through our partnership with Eurekahedge and ILS Advisers. Artemis now has a dedicated page where you can view the main Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index and its key performance figures, the index will be updated in real-time with the main index on Eurekahedge. To view the details of the constituent funds of the index you’ll need to visit Eurekahedge and sign-up with them here.