The Canadian Chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association today announce the winners of the 2005 AIMA Canada Research Award.

Todd Brulhart, Portfolio Manager, KCS Fund Strategies Inc. of Vancouver and Professor Peter Klein of the Segal School of Business at Simon Fraser University were recognized for their paper entitled “Are extreme hedge fund returns problematic?” and will share a cash prize of $10,000.

In their paper, Brulhart and Klein compare return data on popular hedge fund indices with return data on major stock market indices, concluding that the true magnitude of extreme returns is less severe for hedge fund indices than for equity indices and therefore is not problematic for investors. They note that their findings are contrary to numerous studies on hedge funds by academics and practitioners which refer to potential problems caused by extreme values of hedge fund returns.

The award, which is co-sponsored by JCClark and RBC Capital Markets, was introduced in June 2004 “as a means of promoting high-quality Canadian research relating to the rapidly growing alternative investment industry,” AIMA Canada chairman Jim McGovern.

Academics, students and practitioners were invited in June 2004 to submit research papers for the award. The research topics were to be based on any aspect of absolute return strategies, which includes hedge funds, managed futures funds and currency funds.

The winning submission was chosen based on the decision of an independent adjudication panel chaired by Paul Bates, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and a Commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission. The panel consisted of academic faculty from a number of academic institutions across Canada.

“The winning paper by Messrs. Brulhart and Klein will be posted on the AIMA Canada Web site and a summary version will be published in the summer edition of Canadian Investment Review,” said Tris Lett, deputy chairman of AIMA Canada and co-chairman of AIMA Canada’s Education and Research Committee.