NEWS
8 Apr 2014 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 20 to 50 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks in the long side of the portfolio, although in a rising market the portfolio will tend to hold smaller caps, including resource stocks, more frequently. On the short side, the portfolio is particularly concentrated, with stock selection limited by both liquidity and the difficulty of borrowing stock in smaller cap companies. Short positions are only taken when there is a high conviction view on the specific stock. The Fund uses derivatives in a limited way, mainly selling short dated covered call options to generate additional income. These typically have less than 30 days to expiry, and are usually 5% to 10% out of the money. ASX SPI futures and index put options can be used to hedge the portfolio's overall net position. |
Manager Comments | The Manager's update notes that Long positions in Donaco and the major banks, and a short position in Metcash were the largest positive contributors to performance, whilst long positions in Crown, CSL and Twenty-First Century Fox were the largest detractors. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
7 Apr 2014 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
MORPHIC GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND
AFM has updated the 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.
- Portfolio construction is stock selection agnostic with a bias to value based and momentum strategies. Risk management is a primary consideration in portfolio construction and the strong emphasis on risk is evidenced by the Fund's since inception annualised standard deviation of 9.05% (10.29% ASX 200 Accum Index), maximum drawdown of 1.66% (6.72% Index) and downside deviation of 2.26 (5.50 Index).
- 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.
Sean Webster
Research Manager
4 Apr 2014 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund
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Fund Overview | The fund seeks to identify opportunities in the share market to make positive returns (long and short) irrespective of market conditions. It is style agnostic, as compelling investment opportunities exist across all investment styles from time to time. The Fund places a high priority on capital preservation, and has an absolute return focus in accepting market risk. |
Manager Comments | The Manager's report comments on the portfolio results and characteristics and covers 4 portfolio stocks. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
2 Apr 2014 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund February 2014
INSYNC GLOBAL TITANS FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Insync Global Titans Fund.
We would like to highlight the following:
- The Global Titans Fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 15-25 stocks, targeting exceptional, large cap global companies with a strong focus on dividend growth and downside protection.
- The Fund's unit price increased by 2.4% in February. The solid performance was fairly broadly based across the portfolio, with the biggest positive contributions coming from our holdings in Reckitt Benckiser, BAT, GlaxoSmithKline, BSkyB and DirecTV. Small negative contributions came from Comcast, Safran and Zimmer Holdings. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place.
- Portfolio selection is driven by a core strategy of investing in companies with sustainable growth in dividends, high returns on capital, positive free cash flows and strong balance sheets.
- Emphasis on limiting downside risk is through extensive company research, the ability to hold cash and long protective index put options.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sean Webster
Research Manager
1 Apr 2014 - Pengana Australian Equities Fund
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Manager Comments | As at 28th February 2014, cash (including notes and preference shares) represented 20% of the Fund. The top five holdings by value were: DUET Group, ANZ Bank, Telstra, NAB and Resmed. The Fund's exposure to non-Australian dollar earnings streams (inclusive of companies with global earnings profiles such as Resmed, Fox Group, CSL, Crown Resorts, NZ based companies and US dollar exposure) stood at 25%. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
31 Mar 2014 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust February 2014
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust.
We would like to highlight the following:
- 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 Fund has recorded out-performance of the market since inception in September 2008 with approximately 83% of monthly performances having positive returns and the largest drawdown was -1.38% (Index -33.11%).
- The Fund has sound Sharpe and Sortino ratios at 1.76 and 5.14 since inception, as compared to the Index ratios of 0.19 and 0.15 respectively.
- The investment team comprising George Colman, Peter Whiting and Stephen Nicholls have close to 90 years combined experience in equity markets.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
31 Mar 2014 - CSAG Long Only Program
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Manager Comments | The Manager's monthly comments notes that 'The portfolio started the month with modest exposure of about 30% and this was increased rapidly around mid-month finishing at about 90%. Energy constituted the biggest exposure at month end but exposures to Softs and Grains were also significantly increased. Major contributors to performance were coffee, soybeans zinc and gasoline whilst heating and gas oil posted the largest losses in the portfolio for the month. Coffee was up 41.7% for the month, bringing its YTD to 60.3%. February also saw gains posted by corn (5.4%), cotton (0.9%), Chicago wheat (8.4%) and Kansas wheat (11.1%). Soybeans and sugar also posted gains of 11%. Concerns over cold weather and the political unrest in Ukraine, one of the world's biggest exporters of corn and wheat, helped push prices of these grains up in February. The El Niño weather pattern, which can cause droughts and flooding in various parts of the world, is expected to return in 2014' |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
28 Mar 2014 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
28 Mar 2014 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
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Fund Overview | 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 | The Fund's portfolio construction remains biased to the RMBS (residential mortgage backed security) sector. As at 28 February this comprised 71% of the assets within the portfolio. While there are different types of RMBS structures, our preferred vehicle is a full paid up capital structure where there is no reliance on LMI (lenders mortgage insurance). |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
27 Mar 2014 - Cor Capital Fund
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Fund Overview | The Cor Capital Fund is a Multi- Asset Fund which combines a pre-determined strategic asset allocation with active but systemised rebalancing to generate returns and manage volatility whilst maintaining transparency and liquidity. The Fund strategy is not reliant on accurate market predictions, forecasts or timing for success. Returns are generated in a number of ways; 1) by maintaining sufficiently large positions in a diverse group of asset classes, 2) via the 'volatility harvesting' consequences of active rebalancing, and 3) from the offsetting behaviour of certain asset classes under specific conditions. The combined portfolio is expected to exhibit relatively low volatility and low turnover. In the interests of avoiding complexity, maintaining liquidity, and minimising reliance on third parties, the Fund strategy does not employ gearing, derivatives or short-selling. |
Manager Comments | During February the Fund's gold position continued to perform (+1.09% contribution) and equities recovered from a weak January (+1.16%). Fixed interest (+0.09%) and cash (+0.07%) were also positive. There were no portfolio adjustments for the month with all asset exposures within the limits defined by the Fund's active risk management strategy. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |