Patriot Ledger – For years, Brian Hlidek had a hard time finding a mutual fund for his clients that would help them reduce their investment risks the way a hedge fund would.<\/p>\n
Finally, the Hingham resident decided the best solution would be to start his own fund.<\/p>\n
Hlidek, a former investment adviser, and Jay Compson, a friend who worked for a hedge fund in Boston, came up with an idea while the two commuted to Boston together on the ferry: a mutual fund that would allow investors to benefit from a hedge fund-style of investing.<\/p>\n
The pair traded in their boat ride for a short car trip to Station Street in downtown Hingham, where they launched their own mutual fund firm last year, called Absolute Investment Advisers. Hlidek and Compson, also a Hingham resident, lined up four other partners for the firm: Alec Petro of Duxbury and Chris Ward of Hingham – and Chris Aymond and Tony Bosch, who work in Denver.<\/p>\n
The company\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s mutual fund, the Absolute Strategies Fund, was launched last summer and has accumulated nearly $120 million of investors\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 assets in less than a year.<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153We\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re trying to bring strategies that are used by more sophisticated institutional investors down to the retail world,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 Hlidek said.<\/p>\n
The mutual fund is one of the few in the country that mirrors what\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s known as a \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153hedge fund of funds\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 – a hedge fund that reduces risk by investing in many other hedge funds. Unlike most mutual funds, hedge funds can make bets on the stock price of a company going down. Such \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153short-selling,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 as it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s known in the industry, allows hedge funds to make gains even when the overall stock market is struggling.<\/p>\n