The three key themes driving Alken's Absolute Return Europe fund

Alken's Absolute Return Europe fund has seen inflows of nearly £700m since the start of the year as investors piled into absolute return products.

The £900m fund, run by Nicolas Walewski and Marc Festa, has returned 15.6% over the year to 18 December, according to FE. The managers have recently reduced exposure to quality growth stocks and have begun favouring restructuring and cyclical opportunities in sectors such as financials and utilities. Below, they reveal three keys themes that have driven the performance of the fund and helped attract inflows this year. Utilities The utilities sector has been out of favour for a while, but the summer saw "some serious closing of capacity", the managers said, which is likely to c...