Sandbar Asset Management was founded by Michael Cowley. Its establishment is the culmination of a 14-year career dedicated to pure stock selection alpha inside a disciplined market neutral framework.

That same tenacity for alpha is carved into the DNA of the Sandbar investment process he now oversees; a team of united investment professionals, who share his vision, stand behind its rigorous implementation.

Our unusual level of focus on alpha translates into an uncorrelated return stream. It’s a proposition best suited to those who want to be ahead of the crowd, rather than part of it.

Our market neutral strategy is implemented through a series of intra-sector pair trades. The ‘pairs’ are the result of fundamental bottom-up analysis that focuses on the collection and assimilation of real-time, idiosyncratic company data to identify situations where the market is behind the curve. To improve the risk/return profile, macro sensitivities are considered. It’s an approach that yields results uncorrelated to market, sector or thematic performance; our strategy returns come from exposure to company specific risk.

The positions we take are liquid, geographically unconstrained, and number between 75-100 pairs at any given time for diversification and risk management purposes.

We believe a culture that celebrates individual diversity is key to delivering on our purpose of alpha generation, for two reasons:

First, the successful implementation of a global investment strategy requires a diversity of thinking, beliefs, and behaviour. And second, only when you understand and accept that people are different can you create an environment in which both personal excellence and powerful collaboration can thrive.

To further improve the well-being of our staff, we promote awareness around mental and physical health; learning opportunities for staff; and family-friendly policies for a better work-life balance.