In a standout performance for 2025, Toronto-based Anson Funds Management has delivered a 21.2 per cent return for its flagship Anson Master Fund, more than doubling its 10.1 per cent gain from the previous year. The firm's success, driven by strategic housing market investments, has bolstered its total assets under management to US$2.4 billion as of December 31.
Bullish Turn on Canadian Housing and REITs
Chief Investment Officer Moez Kassam stated that the firm is now turning a keen eye back to the Canadian real estate sector. "Things are starting to get interesting again on the Canadian real estate front," Kassam said, highlighting that Anson is actively exploring more opportunities within Canadian Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).
This optimism comes despite recent market softness. Data from the Toronto Real Estate Board shows home sales in the city slipped 11.2 per cent in 2025, with benchmark prices falling a cumulative 6.3 per cent. However, Kassam believes a lack of new construction will create a future supply shortage, setting the stage for a market recovery.
Anson's recent moves back up this view. The hedge fund built significant stakes in apartment owners InterRent REIT and Minto Apartment REIT last year. Both companies are now in the process of being taken private, with InterRent's acquisition by CLV Group and GIC coming at a 35 per cent premium to its market price.
Global Plays and SPAC Comeback
Anson's investment strategy extends well beyond Canada. The fund holds a 7.3 per cent position in Vistry Group PLC, a UK homebuilder focused on affordable housing. With an investment worth US$175 million, this marks Anson's largest-ever single holding. Vistry's shares gained 12 per cent in London last year, benefiting from government pushes for more low-cost housing.
The hedge fund is also capitalizing on the resurgence of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), a trend repopularized following the return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency. Founders have raised over US$24 billion since the November 2024 election, surpassing the total of the previous two years combined. Anson has taken 10 per cent stakes in Eric Trump’s New America Acquisition I Corp. and Yorkville Acquisition Corp.
Not every SPAC bet paid off, however. Anson's 8.3 per cent stake in Anthony Pompliano’s ProCap Financial was not a winner, as Kassam noted a government shutdown delayed its listing and shifted market sentiment by the time it went public.
Challenges in Short Selling and Sector Valuations
Known for its bold long-short strategy, Anson found short selling to be a "very, very hard business" in 2025's buoyant market. Kassam pointed to short positions on quantum computing firm Rigetti Computing Inc. and nuclear fission company Oklo Inc. as examples that did not pay off.
"The quantum and nuclear sectors are just so in vogue right now — and it’s so pie-in-the-sky, you can’t really disprove anything yet because it’s so early," Kassam explained. Rigetti's stock surged 238 per cent while Oklo rose 45 per cent last year, forcing Anson to close the direct shorts and move the positions into a basket trade.
Kassam maintains that valuations in these cutting-edge industries "got ahead of themselves" and are potentially decades away from fundamental success, but current market conditions are too frothy to place effective short bets.
