Hedge Funds : A Study of Investment patterns on the Swedish market

Background: Hedge funds as an alternative investment are a rapidly increasing market. The change in the financial climate during the last ten years has created a greater awareness of hedge funds. Hedge funds in contrast to other funds has the ability to invest in all kinds of securities like stocks, bonds, derivatives and currencies and by combining hedge funds in a portfolio one can reduce the risk while increase the return. We found an interest in the subject because we realized that there is a lack of studies made on hedge funds in Sweden. Purpose: The aim for this study is to analyze the hedge funds that are present on the Swedish market in terms of investment strategies and performance. We aim to statistically investigate whether or not there is more general investment strategies present on the Swedish market. The objective is to investigate whether or not the Swedish market differ from the international market. Method: The method used in this study is quantitative with a deductive approach. We have studied several previous studies and the literature in order to find the best statistical methods and to form appropriate hypotheses. Since the Swedish hedge fund market is relatively small, we are going to study a whole population. To find the hedge funds that is active on the Swedish market we have compiled lists from two financial magazines and the Swedish fund statistics. The main statistical tools used to analyze our data are the Principal Component Analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Conclusions: We found that there are some differences between the Swedish hedge fund market and the global market. The Principal Component Analysis proved that there is possible to derive five different investment strategy groups on the Swedish hedge fund market. However, these strategies are not as mutually exclusive as one would expect due to their possibility to use several dynamic trading strategies. We found that one investment strategy is dominating the market. This is not consistent with international studies. We also found that the Swedish market is not performing as well as the international market. Internationally hedge funds have a growth rate of 20 percent annually while hedge funds on the Swedish market have a growth rate of 20 percent over three years. Due to the fact that we found that the Swedish hedge fund market is relatively homogenous and that Swedish hedge funds provide a lower yield than international funds we concluded that hedge funds on the Swedish market is not acting in accordance to theory.