Sir Ronald Cohen’s real estate hedge fund has outperformed its benchmark by nearly 23% in its first seven months, achieving a positive return despite falling markets. Cohen, co-founder of UK buyout group Apax Partners, set up Portland Capital in January last year when investors warned that property values were overblown.

On June 1, the firm launched a global property securities fund with a bias towards European stocks, which goes long and short in stocks with exposure to property. The Portland Global Real Estate Securities fund returned 6.88% net of fees after seven months, while the FTSE Epra/Nareit index fell by 15.6%, according to Portland.