Acadian marks 20-year milestone for long/short strategies

Sydney, 28 April 2026 – Acadian Asset Management LLC ("Acadian"), a global systematic investment manager, celebrates a key milestone for its long/short strategies in Australia. The firm’s Global and Australian Equity Long/Short strategies have marked two decades of delivering active, long-term returns for investors.

This marks an important point in the evolution of Acadian’s long/short capability, built on decades of experience in data-driven investing across global developed, emerging, and Australian markets.

Since launch in 2006, the strategies have navigated diverse market conditions, including periods of low volatility, global stress, and more recent environments characterized by higher dispersion and sector concentration. Over time, exposures have evolved across sectors such as technology, healthcare, and consumer-driven growth.

The strategies draw on broad investment universes across global and Australian equities, enabling the portfolios to identify opportunities on both the long and short sides. This approach combines active management with quantitative analysis across extensive data sets, supported by a diversified set of signals capturing valuation, growth, quality, and market behaviour. Together, these elements aim to identify market inefficiencies while maintaining a disciplined and objective investment framework. Structured with approximately 130% long and -30% short exposure, the portfolios are designed to express the firm’s robust stock forecasting model across both positive and negative views of securities, providing increased flexibility to navigate changing market conditions and sources of return.

According to Morningstar data, the Global Equity Long/Short strategy has ranked in the top quartile within its global equity peer category over longer-term horizons. The Global Equity Long/Short strategy has delivered a net return of 9.64% per annum since inception, compared to 8.45% for the MSCI World Index at 31 March 2026. Its AUM in Australia has grown to $771 million.

The Australian Equity Long/Short strategy has delivered a net return of 7.54% per annum since inception, compared to 7.04% for the S&P ASX 300 at 31 March 2026. Its AUM in Australia has similarly grown to $398 million today.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Mark Mukundan, Senior Vice President at Acadian Asset Management, said:

“This anniversary reflects the experience we have built managing long/short strategies across a range of market environments for Australian wholesale clients. Investors also benefit from the 130/30 structure in terms of an increased (1.3 times) exposure to stocks in the long portfolio, which in turn provides additional franking credits compared to a long only fund. We are proud that this milestone highlights the strength of our disciplined investment approach and our ongoing commitment to delivering value for our Australian clients.”

About Acadian Asset Management

Acadian Asset Management is among the larger systematic specialist managers in the world. With four decades of experience, Acadian is a pioneer in investing with machine learning, natural language processing, and alternative data. The firm is headquartered in Boston, with affiliates in Singapore, Sydney, and London and a 25-year history in the APAC region. Acadian invests on behalf of sophisticated institutional investors, private wealth, and financial intermediaries, with US$178 billion in assets under management globally as of December 31, 2025.