A report by business news site ValueWalk said the hedge fund industry's top performers for 2013 were found primarily in value plays. The report noted that the S&P 500 Index posted 27% in gains last year.

Tokyo-based firm SFP Value Realization Fund, for example, operated on a strategy wherein the firm place investments in undervalued Japanese firms and engage management constructively in order to implement the changes needed to unlock the companies' shareholder value, ValueWalk said in its report. Because of its strategy, the Fund reported 70.05% in gains as of December, garnering a second place on the list of top performing funds for the year 2013 by HSBC Holdings plc. The top performer of HSBC's list was Senvest Partners, which is a long and short fund that seeks value in small and mid-cap companies. Senvest was said to have recorded 73.38% in gains. Marlin Fund placed third on the list, who has been seeking value in mispriced midcap and large-cap liquid stocks. Marlin Fund, said the ValueWalk report, hired an ex-Central Intelligence Agency operative once to aid them acquire intelligence on several stocks, according to Institutional Investor magazine.

The HSBC list also included the name of one of the most recognizable fund managers. John Paulson was known to have made $3.7 billion in 2007 by short-selling subprime mortgages, the report said. The Paulson Advantage Fund in 2011, however, fell on difficult times that it posted a 40% loss that year. On the other hand, the Paulson Recovery Fund, which was created to benefit from the US' recovering economy, posted 55.70% last year and placed fourth on HSBC's list of top-performing funds. ValueWalk mentioned that Paulson's Recovery Fund highlight was in Septemeber, when Skybridge Capital's Anthony Scaramucci moved to place $490 million in investment capital into Paulson's funds. Scaramucci is a known bond investor.