Three U.S. hedge fund investment styles best in the world in February.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 1996--U.S. Value, U.S. Aggressive Growth and U.S. Special Situations hedge funds beat all others worldwide in February, while U.S. Macro hedge funds performed the worst, more then reversing the positive gains they achieved in January, according to Van Hedge Fund Advisors (VAN), a leading hedge fund investment advisory firm.

"The biggest gainers for the month among hedge fund investment styles were U.S. Value (up 3.7%), U.S. Aggressive Growth (up 3.3%) and U.S. Special Situations (up 3.0%)," according to George P. Van, chairman of VAN. "For the year through February, the biggest gainers were Offshore Aggressive Growth (up 8.8%), U.S. Aggressive Growth (up 6.2%), U.S. Special Situations (up 6.2%) and U.S. Market Neutral-Securities Hedging (up 5.9%).

"In January, every hedge fund investment style -- both in the U.S. and abroad -- recorded gains," Van continued. "In February, however, some of these faltered. In particular, U.S. Macro hedge funds, which seek profit from major changes in global economies, suffered an average net loss of 8.6% in February, this coming on the heels of an 8.2% average net gain in January of this year.

"The Macro style, which was the best performing U.S. style and one of the best Offshore styles in January, was the worst performing in February, hurt significantly by plunging values in the gold, dollar and bond markets," he said.

"The average U.S. hedge fund gained 1.7% in February, while the S&P 500 appreciated 0.9% and the average equity mutual fund gained 1.8%. Offshore hedge funds didn't fare well as a group, posting losses of 0.2% on average during February, led by the net average negative return of 6.5% posted by Offshore hedge funds that specialize in Short Selling," Van pointed out.

"I would stress, however, that through the end of February both U.S. and Offshore hedge funds have on average achieved positive cumulative returns of 4.3% and 3.6% respectively. This compares with a gain of 4.3% in the S&P 500, a gain of 4.2% for the average equity mutual fund and a loss of 0.5% for the average bond mutual fund during the same period," Van concluded.

For February 1996, hedge fund returns by investment style were as follows: -0-

                       Van Hedge Fund Advisors
                          Hedge Fund Returns

                                      February 1996
                                      U.S.   Offshore
Aggressive Growth                     3.3%     2.7%
Distressed Securities                 1.0%     1.2%
Emerging Markets                     -0.9%    -1.2%
Fund of Funds                         0.1%    -1.3%
Income                                1.5%    -0.7%
Macro                                -8.6%    -1.1%
Market Neutral-Arbitrage              0.1%     N/A
Market Neutral-Securities Hedging     1.5%     N/A
Market Neutral Strategies             N/A      0.7%
Market Timing                        -2.1%    -3.7%
Opportunistic                         2.1%    -1.4%
Several Strategies                    2.2%     N/A
Short Selling                        -2.7%    -6.5%
Special Situations                    3.0%     0.9%
Value                                 3.7%     2.6%-0-

Van Hedge Fund Advisors, Inc. maintains what is believed to be the largest database of hedge funds in the world, monitoring the performance of over 1,500 hedge funds (over 900 in the U.S. and over 600 Offshore) that actively manage over $95 billion in assets. VAN works with faculty of the Owen Graduate School of Management of Vanderbilt University in its hedge fund research.

A registered investment advisor, Nashville, Tenn.-based Van Hedge Fund Advisors identifies top performing hedge funds for substantial investors both in the U.S. and overseas.

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Note to Editors: Van Hedge Fund Advisors also has available on request a Global Index that combines the performance of U.S. and Offshore hedge funds in aggregate and by investment style, over the past five years, compared to other investment benchmarks (i.e. S&P 500, MSCI World). Similar information is available for U.S. and Offshore returns.

Information on U.S., Offshore and Global hedge fund performance is based on information received (and not audited or independently verified) from the hedge funds in Van Hedge Fund Advisors' databases and may not be representative of all hedge funds. Different statistics may be based on different numbers of funds. Averages are not dollar-weighted. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance.

Database Reference: Investments, Hedge, Funds

CONTACT: Van Hedge Fund Advisors, Nashville

George P. Van, 615/377-2949