Carmignac strengthens alternatives franchise with two long-short fund manager appointments

Carmignac has announced the appointment of two long-short fund managers to join its growing alternatives team. Johan Fredriksson joined the firm on 21 June 2023 and Dean Smith will join on 1 September 2023.

Dean and Johan are highly experienced investors and join Carmignac from TT International where they co-managed a European long-short equity strategy. Since its launch in 2019, their previous strategy delivered strong risk-adjusted returns, placing the fund in the top quartile of its category¹. The pair’s focus on risk management and drawdown limitation proved to be particularly efficient during two recent periods of market turmoil. During the Covid-19 crisis in Q1 2020, when European equity markets fell by more than 20%², the strategy posted top quartile and positive performance. In 2022, a particularly difficult year, the duo again managed to generate positive and top-quartile performance.

The appointment of Dean and Johan is part of Carmignac’s commitment to reinforce its alternative offering and deepen its fund management expertise in this area. Over the last year, Carmignac has appointed six alternative specialists and strengthened its alternative fund range.

Specifically, Dean and Johan boost the firm’s long-short European equity franchise which has grown significantly in recent years.

To expand in this reduced-capacity asset class, Carmignac has decided to split its long-short European equities strategy (comprising a Luxembourg SICAV and French FCP fund) into two distinct strategies.

Malte Heininger retains management of the SICAV fund³, which is unchanged. Dean and Johan will take over the management of the FCP fund on 1 September 2023. On that date, it will be renamed Carmignac Absolute Return Europe (CARE)⁴.

The two strategies will be managed independently, with distinct capacity limits. While CARE’s investment strategy remains unchanged, the duo will manage the fund with a focus on risk management and volatility and will also incorporate some top-down inputs.

This enhanced value proposition extends the firm’s European long-short fund offering, giving investors access to a wider range of investment solutions.

Maxime Carmignac, managing director of Carmignac UK and head of strategic product development, comments:

“Investors are increasingly turning to uncorrelated strategies to complement their core allocation. We’re pleased to continue hiring top-industry talent as we expand our alternatives proposition, building a full range of solutions designed to meet various investor requirements.”

“Carmignac has a proven track record in long-short investing. Dean and Johan will be valuable additions to our growing alternatives team and the wider investment team. Their deep experience and risk management skills will be beneficial as we boost the capacity of our long-short proposition, in the interest of our clients.”

¹Source: Morningstar. From 01/10/2019 to 28/02/2023. Morningstar category: Long/Short Equity – Europe. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Performances are net of fees (excluding possible entrance fees charged by the distributor).
²Source: Morningstar.
³The SICAV fund is called Carmignac Portfolio Long-Short European Equities.
⁴The FCP fund is currently called Carmignac Long-Short European Equities.