NEWS
23 May 2016 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund April 2016
PENGANA ABSOLUTE RETURN ASIA PACIFIC FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund.
- The Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund ("PARAP") was established in 2008 by portfolio managers Antonio Meroni and Vikas Kumra. The Fund is a feeder fund into a Cayman Islands AUD share class fund.
- The Fund invests both long and short in Asia Pacific equities, including in Australian and New Zealand, after a stock specific "event" has either occurred or been announced and the portfolio aims to be uncorrelated to the underlying equity markets. A combination of the Manager's experience, thorough research and continuous back- testing identify the most attractive of these events.
- Risk controls include limits on individual positions as well as gross and net exposure. Limits are in place for option exposure and cash borrowing, with stop loss limits on individual positions. Overall the manager is looking to derive returns from the event strategies as opposed to any currency or market exposures.
- Since inception, the Fund has an annualised return of 9.95% p.a., compared to the AFM's Asia Pacific Index of 4.49%. The Fund has achieved this with lower volatility of 6.09% (Index 11.89%).
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
20 May 2016 - Affluence Investment Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund does not invest directly into any asset class, rather, it invests in investment managers which satisfy Affluence Funds Management's investment criteria; its investment philosophy is based on a formula developed by CEO/Portfolio Manager Daryl Wilson since the start of his career in 1999. The Fund targets total returns of at least 5% above inflation over rolling 3 year periods with volatility of returns less than 50% of the ASX200 Index. The Fund also aims to provide investors with a distribution yield of at least 5% p.a. Finally, the Fund aims to outperform the Australian stock market (S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index) by at least 5% in any year in which that index delivers a negative return. To ensure appropriate diversity of managers and limit the potential for conflicts of interest, no more than 20% of the Fund will be invested with any one manager. Affluence seeks to achieve the Funds' investment objective by choosing attractively priced investments overseen by quality managers. The Fund uses a number of processes to identify potential investments including quantitative screens for investments which meet historical performance, volatility and other criteria. They also use a number of external researchers and information sources to assist in this process. |
Manager Comments | Almost all of the Fund's investments delivered positive returns in April. The best returns came from the Fund's small resources investments. The worst performers were the long/short and market neutral funds which were roughly flat for the month. The property investments continued to deliver a decent yield. At month-end, the Fund held investments in 17 unlisted funds, which represented 62% of the total portfolio. The Fund also held 22 investments in listed investment companies and securities, representing 16% of the portfolio. The balance of 22% was held in cash. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's report. |
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20 May 2016 - Supervised Global Incomed Fund
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Fund Overview | The fund may also invest in interest rate swaps, options over authorized investments and exchange traded futures contracts. All these will be either listed or traded in a market where they can be independently valued. Fundamental to the investment procedure is the tenet that no debt security will qualify for investment unless it can repay 100% of its principal and interest in a worst case economic scenario. |
Manager Comments | More than half of the portfolio's composition (as a percentage of NAV) was invested in the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) 62.25%. The rest of the portfolio held USD Corporate Loans at 23.63% and AUD Corporate Loans at 4.54%. Cash was reduced from the prior month to 9.06%. The Fund Manager believe that even in an environment with historically low levels of interest rates, opportunities for reasonable returns still do exist in both, the Mortgage and Corporate Mezzanine loans market. Click below to view the latest Fund Manager Report. |
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19 May 2016 - NWQ Fiduciary Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce returns, after management fees and expenses of between 8% to 11% p.a. over rolling five-year periods. Furthermore, the Fund aims to achieve these returns with volatility that is a fraction of the Australian equity market, in order to smooth returns for investors. |
Manager Comments | At month end, the Fund was rebalanced with a reduction in Beta strategies (-3.0%) and an increase in Alpha strategies (+3.0%). In addition, a new manager has been introduced to the Beta strategy to provide some additional diversification. The portfolio's Beta managers utilised a range of long/short equity strategies and were the main contributors to performance, attributing +0.25%. Alpha manager returns were more subdued, with the strategy attributing a modest +0.10%. Click below to read the latest Fund's Report. |
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19 May 2016 - Pengana Global Small Companies Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund is managed by Founder & CIO Leah Zell, and Portfolio Managers Jon Moog and David Li. The Lizard investment team have over 50 years combined investment experience in global small cap investing. Leah Zell has over 30 years of experience and is a recognized expert in international investing in the international small-cap category. The Fund's investment team uses a value-oriented investment approach to small and mid-cap global equities that seeks to identify and invest in quality businesses that create significant value but are mispriced, overlooked or out-of-favour. The investment manager believes that unique opportunities exist due to limited available research, corporate actions or unfavourable investor perception. The portfolio construction process aims to develop portfolios that incorporate the best investment ideas from the investment manager's research while allowing for liquidity constraints and perceived risk. The Fund's investment manager will not typically hedge currency exposures, however during periods of currency extremes, some currency hedging may be employed. Derivatives may be used to achieve long or short exposures, reduce risk and reduce transaction costs. Derivatives will not be used for the purposes of leverage and the Fund's net exposure will never be short. |
Manager Comments | Currency positively impacted the Fund and the benchmark, adding roughly 1.7% to both. The largest contributor for the month was Moleskine, which continued its strong performance. Peyto was the second largest contributor, benefiting from price improvements in underlying commodities. AMS and Spirit Airlines both negatively impacted this month's performance after reporting lacklustre fundamental results. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's report. |
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18 May 2016 - Fund Review: Jamieson Coote Bonds Active Fund April 2016
Jamieson Coote Bonds Active Fund
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Jamieson Coote Bonds Active Fund
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- Jamieson Coote Bonds is a Melbourne-based Boutique Manager launched in December 2014.
- The Founders, Charles Jamieson and Angus Coote bring over 30 years of international experience dealing with central banks, hedge funds and real money managers.
- The Jamieson Coote Active Bond Fund is a long-only macroeconomic investment fund, investing in Australian Dollar denominated bonds backed by AAA and AA+ rated Government, Semi (State) Government and Supranational agencies.
- The Fund Objective is to out-perform the Bloomberg Australian Government Bond Index through active management in a sound risk-managed framework and usually holds around 20 bond securities of varying maturities.
18 May 2016 - Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund is managed as one portfolio but comprises and combines two separately managed exposures: 1. An investment in the top 20 stocks of the markets, which the Fund achieves by taking an indexed position in the S&P/ASX 20 Index; and 2. An investment in the stocks beyond the S&P/ASX 20 Index. This exposure is managed on an active basis using a fundamental core approach. The Fund may also invest in securities expected to be listed on the ASX, securities listed or expected to be listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities.Derivative instruments may be used to replicate underlying positions and hedge market and company specific risks. The companies within the portfolio are primarily selected from, but not limited to, the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index. The Fund typically holds between 40-55 stocks and thus is considered to be highly concentrated. This means that investors should expect to see high short-term volatility. The Fund seeks to achieve growth over the long-term, therefore the minimum suggested investment timeframe is 5 years. |
Manager Comments | Click below to read the latest Fund Report. |
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17 May 2016 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund will usually hold 40 to 80 positions and will be well diversified across the various event strategies. In keeping with the absolute return focus the Manager will eliminate market risk where appropriate by hedging market and foreign currency risks. Since inception the Fund has averaged a net equity market exposure of ~10%. Sizing of an investment position will depend on the expected risk adjusted returns while taking account the liquidity and volatility of the stock. In addition, the maximum potential loss on any one position should be greater than 0.5% of the NAV and the position should not exceed 30% participation of stressed volume assuming a $200m NAV. Other criteria considered are ability to hedge and the availability of pair candidates as well as the average bid-ask size. For M&A strategies average long position is 3 to 5.5% and average short position 2 to 5%. |
Manager Comments | The Fund had an average gross and net exposure of 192.9% and 6.6% respectively. Gross exposure was reduced from the previous month on the back of M&A deals completing in Singapore, as well as Chinese companies listed as ADR's in the USA. The M&A sub-strategy and Capital Management strategies contributed positively to the Fund's performance. Biggest negative contributor came from the Index strategy. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's Report. |
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17 May 2016 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust April 2016
OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE TRUST
AFM have released the most recently updated Fund Review on the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- Optimal Australia is a specialist Australian equity investment manager and the Fund has a long/short equity strategy typically with a low but variable net market exposure comprising 40 to 65 stocks broadly selected from within the ASX200.
- The investment team comprising George Colman, Peter Whiting supported by Stephen Nicholls and Justin Hay have over 100 years combined experience in equity markets.
- In March, the Fund returned -0.69%. The Fund's approach to risk is shown by the Sharpe ratio of 1.49 (Index 0.17), Sortino ratio of 3.37 (Index 0.14), both of which are well above the ASX 200 Accumulation Index and has recorded 79% positive months.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
16 May 2016 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund April 2016
BENNELONG KARDINIA ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review. You are also able to view the Fund's Profile.
- The Fund is long biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies with a nine-year track record.
- The Fund has significantly outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index since its inception in May 2006 and also has significantly lower risk KPI's. The Fund has an annualised return of 11.79% p.a. with a volatility of 7.30%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 4.51% p.a. with volatility of 14.25%.
- The Fund also has a strong focus on capital protection in negative markets. Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder have significant market experience, while Bennelong Funds Management provide infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution capabilities.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.