Sextant’s Water Hedge Fund Up 97.5%

Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Author: FINalternatives

While many hedge funds are running aground amidst the market turmoil, one Toronto firm is seeing nothing but clear blue seas.

Sextant Capital Management’s Strategic Global Water Fund Offshore finished August up 9.4%, boosting its year-to-date returns to 97.5%. The fund invests in pure water companies and water-related technologies.

According to founder Otto Spork, China’s demand for commodities coupled with global warming has made water a highly sought-after commodity.

“Presently, over one-third of countries have insufficient water resources and this will expand to two-thirds within the next 10 to 15 years,” wrote Spork, in a letter to investors.

Spork said that the deterioration in the quality of the world’s fresh water supply is accelerating; on a global basis, one in 10 diseases originate from unsafe water. “People are only now beginning to understand the relationship between water shortages and poor quality water and the strength of a nation’s economy and the health of its people,” he said.

And Spork sees no trouble ahead for the water fund, adding that last month’s return was “only the tip of the iceberg.”