StoneHedge Funds Inc. of Humboldt, Saskatchewan today announced the launch of its new Canadian hedge fund.

Andre Chabot, president of ChabotPage Investments Counsel in Montreal is managing the new fund’s investments. A Canadian long-short fund he manages posted a 26.36% increase for the year and 12.49 % for the past six months as of November 30. Chabot’s management placed a fund at the top of Canadian Equity funds class rankings in the past six month and three month periods, the company says.

The StoneHedge fund will invest in both Canadian and U.S. stocks, and will allow Chabot to sell short as well as buy. Chabot says, “the combination of buying long and buying short considerably reduces exposure to general equity market risk. It means we can produce positive results for investors regardless of the market direction up or down.” He added, “the investment policy of this fund is to hold positions in a long portfolio of equity while simultaneously holding positions in a short portfolio. The stocks will be medium and large capitalization stocks and income trusts trading on major North American stock exchanges.”

The fund is available in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The minimum investment differs in different jurisdictions with a low minimum of $97,000 and a high minimum $150,000.