NEW YORK - AdultVest, a firm that seeks to match adult entertainment businesses with qualified investors, was named "Hedge Fund Launch of the Year" at the sixth annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards on Wednesday.
AdultVest and its owner and CEO Francis Koenig were nominated for the Bacchus Investment Fund and the Priapus Investment Fund, strategies that invest in gentleman's clubs and companies that acquire them in the United States and Canada.
With more than 3,700 gentleman's clubs in the United States and Canada, Koenig said he sees enormous profit opportunity, but banks and firms may be hesitant to put "dirt on their sleeve," so they are "missing out on tremendous profit" he told AVN Online when he announced the funds in 2007.
In addition to the hedge funds, AdultVest manages two private equity strategies launched in 2006.
Prior to forming AdultVest in September 2005, Koenig founded Koenig Venture Partners, a hedge-fund incubator and seeder. He started his work with hedge funds at the age of 14 as a researcher at his father's hedge-fund firm New World Partners.
The Hedge Fund Industry Awards, held in New York, recognizes the hedge funds, fund of funds, endowments, foundations, and corporate and public pension funds that have stood out for their accomplishments in alternative investments during the previous year. They are presented by Alternative Investment News and Institutional Investor Magazine.
Arrowgrass Capital Partners, Diamond Lake Investment Group and Marshall Wace also were nominated in the category in which AdultVest was recognized.
