NEWS
Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund April 2015
2 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest fund review now available for the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund, which has one of the most risk averse Key Performance Statistics of any fund in AFM's database.
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2 Jun 2015 - Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund April 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AURORA FORTITUDE ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- The Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund (AFARF) has a 10 year track record investing in ASX listed equities. A Market Neutral overlay is used across a multi strategy approach which allows for flexible asset allocation to maximise returns and minimise risk under a variety of market conditions and cycles.CIO John Corr has over 20 years financial market experience with a strong focus on risk.
- Significant use of low risk "long" derivatives and option overlays has provided positive returns with low volatility during periods of market dislocation. Risk statistics are impressive and shows the Funds risk philosophy; over 85% of monthly performances have been positive with no losing months in 2008, the Fund's largest drawdown is -2.09% and the Sharpe ratio 1.06.
- ASX listed Aurora Funds Limited was established on the merger of three existing fund management businesses, managing approx. $230m on behalf of more than 2,500 retail and wholesale investors.
Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund Fund Review April 2015Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund April 2015
1 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Read the latest Fund Review for Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
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1 Jun 2015 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund April 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
MORPHIC GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Morphic Global Opportunities Fund.
Key points include:
- The Fund is a global equity long/short manager with a long bias and a macro-economic overlay. The mandate allows the Fund to short sell, use derivatives and invest in assets such as commodities & currencies.
- Morphic's philosophy is that only funds with flexible investment and hedging strategies will be able to deliver acceptable, steady, real, absolute returns over the investment cycle.
- The Fund is an early stage, boutique, Sydney-based fund established in 2012 with experienced CIO's, and an investment team of 6 including a risk manager.
- The Board has a majority of independent members with significant risk and investment experience.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Australian Fund Monitors
QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund
1 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund was down -2.96% in April bringing performance for the last 6 months to 16.93%.
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1 Jun 2015 - QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The fund targets a net market exposure of 0% to hedge broader market risks through 30 S&P/ASX-100 positions (15 long and 15 short equally weighted positions). The turnover is generally averaged around 30% of the total portfolio each month. The process is entirely systematic - stock selection and risk management are all employed in a rules based approach. The Market Neutral Long/Short Fund employs no financial leverage, no derivatives and no financial products to imitate leverage. The Investment Manager's three principal investment goals for the Fund are: 1. Market neutral long/short portfolio management with little correlation to equity markets; 2. Over a 3-5 year period, seeking to target annualised volatility of 15% per annum and annualised returns of 15-30% per annum above the Benchmark; Sharpe Ratio 1.0-2.0 and a negative beta to ASX listed equities; and 3. To provide investors with a co-investment opportunity alongside the founding members' investments in the Investment Manager's strategy. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund lagged the S&P/ASX-100's return in April as a result of intra month volatility, with the Australian market whipsawing throughout the month. The banking sector continued to feel pressure as a result of increased regulatory capital requirements, which led to ongoing capital raising fears. This negatively impacted sentiment and caused these positions in the Fund to underperform the S&P/ASX-100 significantly. The Fund was long in Qantas as it ranked favourably on Qato's fundamental Q-Score analysis due to the business' improving fundamentals. For the calendar year to date Qantas has delivered a 40% return to investors in the Fund and was the Fund's top performing position in April. The Fund was short in Metcash which fell -14.4% and Bluescope which fell -14.3% generating significant alpha. Click the Manager's Report to read the complete review |
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Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
29 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund rose 0.34% as the market experienced higher volatility over the month of April.
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29 May 2015 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce positive returns irrespective of the direction of the share market. For each investment the manager considers the risk, the timeline of that risk occurring and then the potential return. Low transaction costs and liquidity are other important factors in the success and implementation of the strategies. |
| Manager Comments | In April, only the Long Short and Mergers & Acquisitions strategies were the positive contributors, with the Long Short Strategy as the best performing (+0.28%). A smaller capitalisation company Triton Minerals (TON.ASX) undertook a discounted capital raising and performed well. All other portfolio strategies were either flat (Convergence & Yield strategies) or only a slight detractor (Options -0.06%). Click below to read the April Fund Manager's Report & AFM Fund Review. |
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Totus Alpha Fund
28 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund was down 4.5% in April compared to the ASX200 Accumulation Index's -1.70%. However the Fund's annual performance of 24.74% (ASX200 Accumulation Index 14.70% p.a.) has been strong.
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28 May 2015 - Totus Alpha Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund is a long/short investment fund principally investing in listed entities, commodities, futures and options in Australia and internationally. The Fund is not a market neutral fund and accordingly may switch between net long positions and net short positions. The Fund may use short sales and derivatives. Gearing may be used to enhance returns and the Fund may be geared in excess of 100% of the Fund's Net Asset Value. There is a limit to net exposure of 150%. |
| Manager Comments | At the end of April, the fund had a net exposure of 31.0% and a gross exposure of 298.0%. The fund was diversified across a number investment themes and geographies with 124 positions (57 long and 67 short). Top contributors in April were the long positions in Smartgroup +1.23% (Scarce Growth) and Altium +0.67% (Online). The short position in Metcash added +0.71% (Structural Change). Biggest detractors were the short position in LNG -2.10% (Promoter), and long positions in Healthscope -0.55% (Ageing Population) and Ramsay Health -0.55% (Ageing Population). Click below to read the complete Fund Manager's Report & AFM Fund Review. |
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Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund April 2015
28 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review now available on Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund, which has over six years of track record and annualised return of 11.43%.
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28 May 2015 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund April 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
PENGANA ABSOLUTE RETURN ASIA PACIFIC FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The Fund returned +3.87% for the month, compared to the HFR Event Driven Index which closed +0.5%. The month saw significant volatility in China/ Hong Kong (H Shares) after CSRC allowed Chinese mutual funds to access Hong Kong markets which significantly impacted holding company discounts and A/H share spreads. Performance was diversified across our M&A, Capital Management and Stubs sub strategy. The Fund used this opportunity to reduce our gross exposure and overall net to 210% and 15.7% respectively.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
27 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund rose 0.02% in April as its benchmark (MSCI AC World Total Return in Australian Dollars) fell 0.33%, resulting in
outperformance of 0.35%.
outperformance of 0.35%.
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27 May 2015 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The biggest contribution to performance for the Fund was the overweight index position in China. Chinese stocks continue to do well as monetary policy is eased further as the government tries to moderate what is now clearly a slowing in the long term growth rate. The Fund expects much of the newer money to prefer to buy the Hong Kong listed shares of major Chinese companies for convenience, and because of the significant price gap that is now apparent. The main detractors from performance were two long held positions in Axis Bank from India and US fund manager Ameriprise. Axis reported excellent results but has been caught up in a general slide in Indian stocks. Ameriprise reported results below market expectations and there was hit by worries about tougher rules in the US financial advisory industry. We believe these are temporary concerns and Ameriprise actually stands to benefit from these legislative changes in the USA. Click below to read the complete April 2015 Fund Report. |
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Avenir Value Fund
27 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Avenir Value Fund returned -3.57% in the month of April compared to the ASX 200 Accumulation Index -1.70%.
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27 May 2015 - Avenir Value Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund will invest in securities where Avenir believes the company is simply mis-priced and deeply undervalued and offers significant potential for revaluation. The Fund will also invest in companies that are subject to specific corporate events such as mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, recapitalisations, spin-offs, demergers, management change, distressed situations, and other sharply delineated corporate events. The Fund will also selectively invest in short positions in companies where Avenir believes the company is significantly overvalued or where the company's business model is broken or structurally challenged. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's notable Sharpe and Sortino ratios are 1.04 and 1.77 respectively since inception in August 2011. At month-end, the Fund's geographical disposition was 46.1% US, 13.7% Asia, 12.9% Western Europe, 1% Australia, 11.4% other and 15.4% cash. The top 10 holdings were 62% of NAV. Click below to read the April 2015 Fund Report |
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Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund April 2015
26 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Fund review available for Bennelong Long Short Fund which has over twelve year track record and annualised returns of 17.33%.
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26 May 2015 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund April 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
BENNELONG LONG SHORT EQUITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund.
- The Fund is a research driven, market and sector neutral, "pairs" trading strategy investing primarily in large cap stocks from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with over twelve year track record and annualised returns of 17.33%.
- The consistent returns across the investment history indicates the Fund's ability to provide positive returns in volatile and negative markets and significantly outperform the broader market. The Fund's Sharpe Ratio and Sortino Ratio are 1.05 (Index 0.36) and 1.75 (Index 0.40) respectively.
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Fund performance in April was flat (0.03%), with no major changes to the Fund's positioning. Across the portfolio, The number of profitable pairs exceeded the number of losing pairs; 17 positive, 14 negative. The Fund's strongest positive contributors were Long Caltex / Short Metcash, Long QBE / Short Suncorp and Long Challenger / Short ANZ. On the negative side, the three largest setback were Long Seek / Short Fairfax, Long Resmed / Short Ansell and Long Brambles / Short Sydney.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
26 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 0.54% over the month of April, bringing its annual performance since inception to 19.13%.
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26 May 2015 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund may also invest in derivatives for hedging purposes. The portfolio of the Fund comprises primarily Investment Grade holding of 75% of the Fund's assets. Benchmark allocations are Australasia 50% to 100%, North America 0% to 50% and Europe 0% to 50%. Currency hedging may take place depending on benefits to the Fund. |
| Manager Comments | Laminar has been vocal about avoiding tier 1 securities and as bank stocks have sold off over the last couple of weeks, tier 1bonds have followed. For higher yielding assets, Laminar's preference has been RMBS, which continues to perform extremely well with low volatility and steadily rising prices. The Fund will maintain a healthy allocation to these assets Click on the link below to read the latest Fund Manager's Report. |
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