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 Fund's unit price increased 0.70% in April. The performance was driven by positive contributions from our holdings in Medtronic, Zimmer Holdings, BAT and Time Warner Inc. The main negative contributors were McGraw-Hill and Microsoft. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside.

• The Global Titans Fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 15-30 stocks, targeting exceptional, large cap global companies with a strong focus on dividend growth and downside protection.

• 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.

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESAFM Fund Review - April 2016 (pdf format)

APN Asian REIT Fund

Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the APN Asian REIT Fund.

We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;

• APN is an ASX-listed fund manager specialising in property investment, with an investment team of six. Established in 1996, APN now has FUM of $A2.1bn including four REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) funds.
• The APN Asian REIT Fund (Fund) is a property securities fund that invests in a quality portfolio of Asian REITs, listed on the securities exchanges of the Asian Region, with the ability to hold some cash and fixed interest investments. 
• The Fund aims to deliver a competitive yield with lower risk than the market. The underlying stocks are selected based on a highly disciplined investment approach that focuses on the fundamentals and number of valuation approaches. The universe can include new IPO's, other corporate actions take place and / or corporate governance improvements at country or REIT level bring new stocks into focus.
• The Fund provides access to a wide spread of property-based revenue streams that are specifically analysed, selected and weighted with the aim of delivering strong and sustainable income returns. The Fund is an unhedged product.
• APN's Asian REIT Fund invests in a portfolio of 25-40 listed Asian REITs with a core philosophy of investing in properties with sustainable rental income streams.
• The Fund has delivered an annalised return of 17.19% p.a., since inception in July 2011 with a standard deviation of 9.65% p.a. The Sharpe and Sortino ratios are 1.41 and 2.62 respectively.

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESAFM Fund Review - April 2016 (pdf format)

​Upcoming election outcomes - What would we know?

Had you asked 12 months ago if Donald Trump was going to be one of the runners in a two horse US presidential race, most people, including yours truly, but possibly not Trump himself, would have bet the house against such an outcome. Everything coming out of the US since then has backed that view, but here we are, so it just shows that Hedge Clippings knows about as much about US politics as anyone else.

Assuming the Republican party machine doesn't rain on his parade in the meantime, we're still not convinced that when voting day comes around in November the average American who can be bothered to turn up at the polls will actually elect him, but as above, what would we know?

Meanwhile in Great Britain, what would seem to be unthinkable not long ago, namely that they might abandon the opportunity to nip across the English Channel for the day to stock up on some cheap plonk (sorry, quality French wine), now looms as a distinct possibility.

Closer to home, if last October you'd asked there would have been an equally lopsided book on the question of who was going to win the next Australian Federal Election, due in just over a month's time. In fact, if you'd asked most punters who were the then leader of the opposition, they probably either wouldn't have known or couldn't have cared. If told, most would have responded "Wee Willie Who?" 

At the time newly appointed PM Malcolm Turnbull's approval rating was at an all-time record high of close to 70%. Once again, what would we know?

What went wrong? Watching Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, possibly not considered to be the sharpest brick in the load, on the ABC's Kitchen Cabinet with Annabel Crabb perhaps gave an accurate clue from one, who if nothing else, seems disarmingly honest*. When asked about Malcolm Turnbull's subsequent decline in popularity, she responded firstly that a combination of relief  at the change and unrealistic expectations might have been part of the problem, with the other being that he's been shackled by his predecessor's right wing cabal.

So with five months (and a bit) to go in the US before Americans vote to elect the most powerful (and potentially dangerous) politician in the world, less than four weeks to British voters possibly "BREXITING", and five weeks and one day until Australians decide their future, Who Knows? What is extraordinary is that any of the outcomes is in doubt.

*Jacqui Lambie also advised she'd happily vote to halve Tasmania's number of Senators from the current 12 to 6, even if it did cost her seat. Now that's unusually honest!

The ASX200 Accumulation Index returned +3.37% in April, with a range of fund returns as follows:

Supervised Global High Yield (previously Supervised High Yield Fund) rose 0.48% for the month of April, to bring annualised performance since inception to 9.35% p.a.

Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund returned -3.49% for the month of April. The Fund has a low systematic risk (beta) to the ASX200 and the MSCI World Indices of 0.07 and 0.08 respectively.

APN AREIT Fund rose 3.37% in April, outperforming the S&P/ASX300 Property Trust Accumulation Index's return of 2.76%, by 0.61%.

Signature Quantitative Fund returned -0.30% to take annualised return since inception to 7.26% p.a.

FUND REVIEWS released this week: Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund; Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund; Supervised Global Income Fund;

And on that note, have a great weekend.

Regards,

Chris
CEO, AUSTRALIAN FUND MONITORS

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Australian Fund Monitors are helping to raise awareness to support research into prevention and cure for cerebral palsy. For more information visit www.cpresearch.org.au or contact me by email.

SUPERVISED GLOBAL INCOME FUND

Attached is AFM's updated Fund Review on the Supervised Global Income Fund (SGIF).

We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:

• The Supervised Global Income Fund (previously Supervised High Yield Fund) has a 6-year track record investing in fixed interest investments. The Investment strategy aims to deliver returns with zero correlation to equity markets by investing in debt securities with minimal default probability and offering a premium return above the risk-free rate.
• The Fund is managed by Philip Carden whose experience in debt and capital markets spans over 33 years, including time with JB Were's Capel Court Securities and Macquarie Bank, where he was the Executive Director responsible for the Debt Markets Division.
• SHYF is an Alternative Income fund which invests in Global and Australian debt markets, with all foreign currency receivables hedged back to Australian dollars.
• The Fund utilises a top-down analysis of the economic environment and market to screen and identifies debt market opportunities which it believes offer low risk with high yield. The next stage is the development of a risk matrix and investment strategy, following which detailed research is undertaken on specific investment opportunities which meet the pre-defined criteria established in the investment strategy.
• Prior to approving an investment for the Fund, each potential investment is subject to two stress tests. The first of these is of credit and default risk, in which the investment is stress-tested to ensure that in a worst case economic environment it can repay 100% of its principal and interest obligations case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided The second test examines market risk.  In this case, Carden looks at the worst case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation.  Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided.

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESAFM Fund Review - April 2016 (pdf format)

BENNELONG TWENTY20 AUSTRALIAN EQUITIES FUND

Attached is our most recently updated  Fund Review on the Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund.

• The Bennelong Twenty20 Fund invests in ASX listed stocks, combining an indexed position in the Top 20 stocks with an actively managed portfolio of stocks outside the Top 20. Construction of the ex-top 20 portfolio is fundamental, bottom-up, core investment style, biased to quality stocks, with a structured risk management approach.

• Mark East, the Fund's Chief Investment Officer, and Keith Kwang, Director of Quantitative Research have over 50 years combined market experience. Bennelong Funds Management (BFM) provides the investment manager, Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP) with infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution services.

For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESAFM Fund Review - April 2016 (pdf format)