LGT stays overweight macro traders

Thomas Weber, head of Hedge Fund Investment, LGT Capital Partners and lead portfolio manager of Castle Alternative Invest, commented on the fund’s performance of up 12.6% in 2009 (in NAV terms).

• Significant allocation to CTA/macro strategies provides diversification from equities and bond
• Move from systematic traders to global macro managers aided outperformance in 2008/09
• Portfolio remains focused on flexible, liquid, less correlated strategies

Weber says: “In early 2009 we moved CTA/macro allocation away from systematic traders and increased exposure to global macro managers, which helped the company outperform the HFR Fund of Funds Index for the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009. We remain overweight discretionary macro and underweight systematic traders because, at present, markets are not subject to major dislocations, which have been the prime opportunity for systematic and short term traders. More benign market conditions enable macro managers to prosper over their shorter term, technical counterparts.”