High Ground Investment Management has posted solid gains this year following its breakout performance in 2025.
The London-based, Europe-focused long-short hedge fund headed by ex–TCI partner Edgar Allen is up 15.39 percent for the year through September after surging 39.41 percent last year. It is outperforming the S&P 500 even though it does not own the handful of AI stocks that have powered the stock market indices with outsize gains.
As Institutional Investor previously reported, High Ground, founded in 2019, focuses on investing in a universe of 135 companies in so-called long-cycle industries that have “operational visibility” 25 years into the future and have returns above their cost of capital, among other characteristics. The short portfolio is made up of companies affected by negative secular trends, such as shifts that can permanently impair a good business.
Performance this year has been driven by European financials and U.S. managed health care on the long side, says someone who has seen the results.
Two of High Ground’s seven U.S.-listed common stocks are health care–related. Shares of health insurance giant Humana surged nearly 50 percent in the first nine months of 2026, and health insurer Elevance Health, the largest U.S.-listed long, added 11 percent.
Altogether, High Ground’s five largest long positions account for 44 percent of the long book, and the top ten for 72 percent.
According to High Ground’s September monthly exposure report, the hedge fund was 52.5 percent net long. Drill down by region, and this closely reflects the hedge fund’s exposure to Europe, the bulk of which came from the United Kingdom and Ireland. North America was 1 percent net short — 31.7 percent long and 32.7 percent short.
Going by sector, financials received the biggest bet. It had a gross exposure of just over 53 percent and a net long exposure of 39.2 percent — down from 45.5 percent in August — spread among banks, capital markets, and insurance, and to a lesser extent, wealth management. This was followed by industrials, with a gross exposure of 48.2 percent but a net long exposure of 14.2 percent.
At the end of August, High Ground’s five largest long positions were three financials, one health care, and one industrials company: Ireland-based financial services company AIB Group, British financial services giant Legal & General, Elevance, Irish aviation leasing company Aercap, and Bermuda-based insurer Arch Capital Group. AIB, Legal & General, and Arch were top-five holdings heading into 2026.
Allen was previously a partner at Naya Capital Management. Before that, he spent six years at TCI as one of six analysts/partners reporting directly to Chris Hohn. He also worked at BlackRock, Dickson Capital, and Fidelity Investments.
