SEB Asset Selection ended down about 2 pct in 2009. The fund cought everyones eyes in 2008 by delivering a 24 pct return in 2008 while the average hedge fund was down by 20 pct.

- SEB Asset Selections performance in 2009 of some -2 pct can be explained by the nontrending / sideways moving global government bond market, the more established currency markets like USD, EUR, JPY and GBP as well as the rather erratic movements in the GSCI commodity index future, writes SEB.

- Although we managed to make money on equities and some of the more cyclical currencies, these gains were not large enough to offset the losses that we generated in the oscillating markets mentioned above. SEB Asset Selectios performance compared favourably to the average CTA / managed futures competitor who had a performance of ]6.6% (in our sample of the 12 largest and/or more well known competitors), writes SEB.

- Evaluating SEB Asset Selection since inception (Oct 2006) gives the following picture: The fund has delivered an annualised net return of some 10.6 pct, which is considerably better than Euro Government Bond Index at 3.9 pct per annum, HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index at - 2.3 pct and MSCI World Equity Index (in local currencies) at - 4.4% per annum. Simultaneously, our fund has had the lowest volatility over the period with 10.4 pct volatility, whereas Euro Government Bond Index had a volatility of 13.0 pct, HFRX Hedge Fund Index of 10.7 pct and MSCI World Equity (in local FX) of 22.6 pct. SEB Asset Selection also compared favourably in terms of the drawdowns seen in the four different investment alternatives, writes SEB.

- To catch up with the accumulated performance of SEB Asset Selection since inception, the bond market would require an instantaneous uplift of 21 pct, the average hedge fund 52 pct and world equity market a jump of 65 pct from the levels they had on 31 Dec 2009, writes SEB.

- Although historical performance is not necessarily indicative of future results, the historical review puts the 2009 numbers into a more nuanced perspective. As the track record of SEB Asset Selection as well as other CTA / managed futures managers has shown over time, including a fund with trend-following characteristics in the client portfolio, has a good chance of both enhancing the returns and reducing the risk of the overall portfolio. It may however be difficult to forecast when CTAs / managed futures are likely to have a good or a bad year. Thus, clients may want to consider having such funds as a long term investment in their portfolios, writes SEB.

- Finally, as different client segments have different risk profiles, we decided to launch two more SEB Asset Selection funds in 2009. Today, clients may access our strategy with a 5 pct, 10 pt and/or 20 pct volatility target (average volatility over 3-5 years). All our SEB Asset Selection funds are UCITS III compliant, have daily valuation, daily liquidity and no minimum investments, writes SEB.