BERWYN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brinker Capital, a leading investment management firm, today announced that Crystal Strategy, its global macro portfolio embedded in a separately management account (SMA) format, started its fourth year with annualized returns of +10.46%, as of January 31, 2012, handily beating the HFRI Global Macro Index, which returned +2.94%* for the same period.
Crystal Strategy has accumulated nearly $500 million in assets since it first became available to financial advisors in September 2010. Now, with a three-year GIPS© compliant and independently verified track record, Brinker Capital is turning its attention to institutions in the $10 million-$100 million asset range where a strategy like Crystal is likely to be appealing.
“Foundations, endowments, and pension plans, and the consultants who represent them have come to the realization that no longer are limited partnership single strategy hedge funds, or even limited partnership hedge fund-of-funds, the only, or even the best option for their alternative investment allocations,” said John E. Coyne, III, President of Brinker Capital. “Crystal, which behaves like a single-strategy hedge fund without the lockup, liquidity, transparency, or high investment minimum constraints, is designed to help institutional investors preserve capital in down markets, while capturing appreciation in up markets. Our three-year performance is proof positive that investors don’t need a limited partnership structure to get the same non-correlated exposure, and similar or better returns, than traditional hedge fund products.”
Using tactical and strategic processes, Brinker Capital broadly allocates across six major asset classes, including domestic and foreign equity, fixed income, absolute return, real assets, and private equity. Within these asset classes, Brinker Capital employs a diverse array of investment vehicles, including individual stocks, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, open-end funds, and master limited partnerships, among others. In addition, highly focused stock selection is used, seeking to further increase the portfolio’s risk-adjusted rate of return.
By focusing the individual stock holdings on a limited number of stocks that represents its smartest ideas, Brinker Capital believes clients have the potential to receive enhanced returns with controlled portfolio risk.
The Brinker Capital Crystal Strategy performs much like other absolute return strategies, but has lower fees compared to many vehicles, and daily liquidity. Furthermore, institutional investors will have daily transparency into their account holdings. The strategy is constructed by merging top-down macroeconomic trends with a bottom-up strategy and stock selection.
In determining the portfolio’s major asset allocation, Brinker Capital starts with a “null hypothesis,” meaning that no individual major asset class deserves a higher weight than any other. From there, based on factors such as valuation, technical trends, sentiment and risks, Brinker Capital strategically overweights the areas they believe will generate the best risk-adjusted return.
A point of major significance is that the investment requirements of institutional investors -- active risk containment to preserve capital in down markets, while capturing appreciation in up markets -- closely parallels those of financial advisors who have found this strategy to be so beneficial.
About Brinker Capital
Brinker Capital, Inc. is a leading independent investment management firm which provides managed account investment programs to individual and institutional investors through financial advisors. Brinker was founded in 1987 by Charles Widger and is located in suburban Philadelphia. Visit Brinker’s website at www.brinkercapital.com.
*The HFRX Global Fund Index returned +3.31% for the same period.