Last May was not an auspicious time to launch a real estate hedge fund, but Reech Alternative Investment Management has no regrets.

The London firm’s US$160 million Iceberg Alternative Real Estate Fund, a joint venture with commercial real-estate giant CB Richard Ellis Group, returned 29.12% in its first year. Iceberg edged up 0.87% last month, and is up 4.09% year-to-date.

“Despite the more challenging investment market for real estate throughout the 12-month period in which Iceberg has been operating, we have been particularly well-placed to benefit as a relative-value market-neutral fund,” Christophe Reech, CEO of Reech AIM, said. “We have been successful by capitalizing on periods of uncertainty and volatility in the market with outperformance driven primarily by value realization throughout the year.”

Iceberg remains heavily weighted to British real estate, although it has been boosting its exposure to mainland Europe.