NEW YORK, March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Members from the investment management community from seven countries and four continents gathered at the first annual S&P Capital IQ and New Legacy Group's Global Emerging Manager Awards (GEMA) dinner on Monday, March 18, 2013 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.  This event was held to honor those who have distinguished themselves among their peers in the areas of best practice processes, business building and fund performance.

The San Francisco-based Marcato Capital Management won the Emerging Manager of the Year Award. In selecting Marcato for this honor, the Global Emerging Manager Awards' panel of judges noted that the firm distinguished itself not only with exceptional fund performance, but also by displaying best practices with respect to infrastructure, client service and business development.

"All the finalists had impressive credentials. Marcato is to be congratulated for its win, as they represent the very standard that all emerging managers aspire to reach," said Adam Geiger, President and CIO of New Legacy Group. "Marcato Capital Management is an example of why asset allocators are taking real notice of emerging managers."

Gregory Zuckerman, senior reporter at The Wall Street Journal, noted in this welcome remarks, "Statistics and historical data show that the real alpha is from smaller hedge funds."  Later, he said, "I am told that the attendees here tonight have allocated over half a trillion dollars to hedge funds.  That is a pretty impressive number."

The awards dinner also focused on philanthropy within the investment community with a discussion titled, "Give Smart:  Conversations with Tom Tierney," with renowned philanthropists Justin Rockefeller, Spencer Robertson, and Irene Pritzker.  Mr. Tierney is the co-founder and CEO of Bridgespan and the co-author of Give Smart: Philanthropy that Gets Results.

"The message of giving to create real, effective change in the world truly resonated with the audience of prestigious allocators and managers," said Jay Zachter, managing director of S&P Capital IQ, "S&P Capital IQ is proud to have been able to bring together some of the top leaders in the world.  The event exemplified the strong connection between philanthropy and the investment community."

The winners of the 2013 Global Emerging Manager Awards by category are:

Best Credit Fund
New-York based Premium Point Mortgage Credit Fund

Best Event Driven Fund
New York based HG Vora Special Opportunities Fund

Best Global Macro Fund
Greenwich, CT based Trend Macro Fund LP

Best Long/Short Equity Fund
Tacoma, WA based Point Defiance Microcap Fund, LP

Best Multi-Strategy/Arbitrage Fund
Bogota, Colombia based Andean Capital Management

Best Asia-Focused Fund
Singapore based, The SFP Value Realization Fund

Best Emerging Markets-Focused Fund
London, UK based Skyline Master Fund

Best Europe-Focused Fund
New York based Permian Investment Partners

Best Global-Focused Fund
Chicago, IL based Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Fund

Best Emerging Manager of the Year
San Francisco, CA based Marcato Capital Management

About S&P Capital IQ:
S&P Capital IQ, a business line of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading provider of multi-asset class and real time data, research and analytics to institutional investors, investment and commercial banks, investment advisors and wealth managers, corporations and universities around the world. Evaluated pricing is prepared by Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc., a part of S&P Capital IQ and a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
S&P Capital IQ provides a broad suite of capabilities designed to help track performance, generate alpha, and identify new trading and investment ideas, and perform risk analysis and mitigation strategies. Through leading desktop solutions such as the S&P Capital IQ, Global Credit Portal and MarketScope Advisor desktops; enterprise solutions such as S&P Capital IQ Valuations, and Compustat; and research offerings, including Leveraged Commentary & Data, Global Markets Intelligence, and company and funds research, S&P Capital IQ sharpens financial intelligence into the wisdom today's investors need. For more information visit: www.spcapitaliq.com.

About New Legacy Group, LLC:
New Legacy Group, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor that provides sophisticated and unbiased global investment management products and services to families of substantial wealth, endowments, foundations, pension funds and other institutional investors that seek superior risk-adjusted returns. For more information, please visit www.newlegacy.com.

SOURCE S&P Capital IQ