West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Iraq and the Babylon Fund sailed fairly unscathed through the panicky financial markets in September, according to CEO Robert Torkelund.<\/p>\n
“Our strategy to focus on sticky money instead of any cheap hot money flow, has paid off so far,” says Torkelund, “Iraqi investments are not for the faint-hearted, of course. A financial crisis more or less, now and then, is business-as-usual for many of our experienced pre-frontier institutional investors. In fact, Babylon Fund’s AUM is still on the rise – early this month reaching ATH – and no redemptions have been requested so far."<\/p>\n
There was less to celebrate in absolute terms though, as the monthly return came in at a negative 5.9% m\/m. (another -3.5% for mid-month Oct). The fund’s losses in September were primarily a result of the bear sentiment. For example, Iraqi bonds lost heavily, with its USD-yields spiralling back into double-digit territory, as did all oil prospecting companies. <\/p>\n
Inside Iraq, markets stayed mainly flat in September: Top 15 companies by Mcap, making up a full 70% of total Mcap, lost a few percentages on average. The diversification process from other Mid-Eastern investors, which was anticipated during the Dubai boom times already, seems instead to have started now instead.<\/p>\n
The Babylon fund is a high risk $23.6 million investment fund with a $100.000 minimum investment. Managed by Godvig Capital and Björn Englund the fund has a 2% management fee.<\/p>\n
Alex Akesson <\/p>\n
Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: alex@hedgeco.net<\/a><\/p>\n