NEWS
Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
30 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund returned -0.79% for the month of May 2017, outperforming the market (S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index) by +1.95%.
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30 Jun 2017 - Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The overriding objective of the Concentrated Australian Equities Fund is to seek investment opportunities which are under-appreciated and have the potential to deliver positive earnings, while satisfying our stringent quality criteria. Bennelong's investment process combines bottom-up fundamental analysis together with proprietary investment tools which are used to build and maintain high quality portfolios that are risk aware. The portfolio typically consists of 20-35 high-conviction stocks from the S&P/ASX 300 Index. The Fund may invest in securities listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities. Derivative instruments are mainly used to replicate underlying positions and hedge market and company specific risks. |
| Manager Comments | More than half of the portfolio (53.1%) was allocated in the Discretionary and Health Care sectors. The Fund's top holdings consisted of Westpac Banking, CSL, Aristocrat Leisure and Dominos Pizza. The investment team continues to remain focused on the company fundamentals, with an eye on value, but only in the context of what one receives in return in terms of quality and earnings delivery and growth. |
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Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund
29 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund returned -2.22% for the month of May, slightly outperforming the S&P/ASX-300 Accumulation Index return of -2.74%, by +0.52%.
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29 Jun 2017 - Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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. |
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Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund
28 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund returned -2.48% for the month of May. The Fund has a low systematic risk (beta) to the ASX 200 and the MSCI World Indices of 0.07 and 0.08 respectively.
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28 Jun 2017 - Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | PanAgora believes the best way to find opportunities in the global markets is to combine fundamental analysis with robust quantitative techniques in order to filter the investment universe and select the investments. The Fund invests primarily in listed equity securities from a global universe of developed markets and a select group of emerging market countries. The Fund's objective is to seek absolute returns by identifying and exploiting multiple inefficiencies that may exist in global equity markets. These inefficiencies are primarily exploited through the use of a long/short equity strategy which aims to construct a portfolio that is generally neutral to market movements. As such the performance of the investment strategy is largely independent of the market's performance. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by using a diversified set of strategies that have low correlation to one another. In addition, because many of these strategies are designed to generate profit under different market conditions, their combination is expected to result in more stable returns over time than any individual strategy in and of itself. |
| Manager Comments | The U.S. sleeve of the long-term portfolio returned -1.27% from the performance. The majority of the underperformance was driven by value and quality factors, while sentiment factors. Sector-wise, the biggest detraction occurred in the Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors, -0.66% and -0.35% respectively. The International exposure detracted -1.40% in May, with the biggest contribution from Japan -1.93% as value factors underperformed. The largest detracting names consisted of overweight positions in JGC Corp. and Nipro Corp., as well as an underweight position Nitori Holdings Co. Ltd. The intermediate strategies detracted -0.04% from the return in May due to the underperformance of U.S. merger arbitrage related trades. The short-term strategies also detracted -0.25%, attributable primarily to earnings related trades. |
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Insync Global Titans Fund
27 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund increased 4.9% in May, outperforming the MSCI All Country World ex-Australia Net Total Return Index ($A), which returned +2.8%, by +2.1%.
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27 Jun 2017 - Insync Global Titans Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Insync employs four simple screens to narrow the universe of over 40,000 listed companies globally to a focus group of high quality companies that it believes have the potential to consistently grow their profits and dividends. These screens are size of the company, balance sheet performance, valuation and dividend quality. Companies that pass this due diligence process are then valued using dividend discount models, free cash flow yield and proprietary implied growth and expected return models. The end result is a high conviction portfolio of typically 15-30 stocks. The principal investments will be in shares of companies listed on international stock exchanges (including the US, Europe and Asia). The Fund may also hold cash, derivatives (for example futures, options and swaps), currency contracts, American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts. The Fund may also invest in various types of international pooled investment vehicles. At times, Insync may consider holding higher levels of cash if valuations are full and it is difficult to find attractive investment opportunities. When Insync believes markets to be overvalued, it may hold part of its resources in cash, or use derivatives as a way of reducing its equity exposure. Insync may use options, futures and other derivatives to reduce risk or gain exposure to underlying physical investments. The Fund may purchase put options on market indices or specific stocks to hedge against losses caused by declines in the prices of stocks in its portfolio. |
| Manager Comments | The performance was driven by positive contributions from the holdings in Heineken, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, PayPal and Comcast. The main negative contributor was The Walt Disney Co. 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. Over 50% of the Fund is currently protected using its put protection strategy. |
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Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund May 2017
27 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review is now available on Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund, which has an annualised return of 8.4% p.a.
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27 Jun 2017 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund May 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - May 2017 (pdf format)
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 8.4% p.a., compared to the MSCI ACWI Asia Pacific Price Index's return of 4.19% p.a.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - May 2017 (pdf format)
4D Global Infrastructure Fund
26 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
4D Global Infrastructure Fund recorded a positive 4.37% (A$) slightly outperforming the FTSE 50/50 Infrastructure Index which was up 4.05% (A$) in May.
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26 Jun 2017 - 4D Global Infrastructure Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The fund will be managed as a single portfolio of listed global infrastructure securities including regulated utilities in gas, electricity and water, transport infrastructure such as airports, ports, road and rail as well as communication assets such as the towers and satellite sectors. The portfolio is intended to have exposure to both developed and emerging market opportunities, with country risk assessed internally before any investment is considered. The maximum absolute position of an individual stock is 7% of the fund. |
| Manager Comments | By contrast, the exposure to LatAm suffered a hit in May from its Brazilian names impacted by corruption concerns surrounding the Temer Government and how this could derail Brazil's macro recovery story. However, the worst performer on a one month view was OHL Mexico, down 10.4%. The Fund continues to remain overweight European and emerging markets but has increased its presence in the USA at the expense of Australian names that hit valuation targets. The investment team continues to have a positive outlook for global listed infrastructure (GLI) over the medium term, due to a number of powerful macro forces that support the sector. |
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Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
23 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Touchstone Index Unaware Fund returned -1.45% for the month of May, outperforming the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index's return of -2.74%.
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23 Jun 2017 - Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The portfolio is constructed using Touchstone's Quality-At-a-Reasonable-Price ('QARP') investment process. QARP is a fundamental bottom-up process, however, it also incorporates a top-down risk management framework designed to successfully manage the portfolio during varying market conditions and economic cycles. The Touchstone Fund is concentrated, typically holding between 15-20 stocks. No individual stock will ever make up more than 10% of the portfolio at any one time. The Investment Manager may temporarily exceed the exposure limits of the Fund occasionally, particularly during periods of market volatility, to allow for holdings in excess of this 10% limit where the increase in value of the underlying security is due to market movement. The Fund may also hold between 0-50% of the portfolio in cash. The Fund has a high level of associated risk, therefore, the minimum suggested investment time-frame is 5 years. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's underweight position in the Banking sector was a major contributor to performance. Specifically, not holding either Commonwealth Bank (-8.9%) or ANZ Bank (-12.2%) assisted returns following their large falls in the month. Treasury Wine Estates (+8.5%) was an outperformer in May. The company was a beneficiary of a weaker Australian dollar, has strong earnings growth prospects and is one of the few companies in the consumer sector that is unlikely to be impacted by the arrival of Amazon. Conversely, James Hardie Industries (-13.6%) and APN Outdoor Group (-14.8%) detracted from the month's performance. With the current political risks elevated globally, combined with market uncertainties, the investment team remains focused on downside protection. |
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Pengana Global Small Companies Fund
23 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana Global Small Companies Fund returned +4.4% in May, outperforming the MSCI AC World SMID Cap Index, which returned 1.8%, by +2.6%.
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23 Jun 2017 - Pengana Global Small Companies Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 | The performance was driven by the Fund's positions in boohoo.com Plc, EPS Holdings, Inc., Scout24 AG, Brazil IT., and Wizz Air Holdings Plc. However, Japan Retail, NetScout Systems, Inc., Sarine Technologies Ltd, Spirit Airlines, Inc., and Ubiquiti Networks, Inc., detracted performance for the month. The investment team continues to ignore the market 'noise' and remains focused on the fundamental factors that drive long-term value: buying great companies at cheap prices. |
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Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
22 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund rose 1.85% for the month of May 2017, compared to Asia Pacific markets which posted a gain of 2.5%.
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22 Jun 2017 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 M&A sub-strategy contributed almost half of the Fund's monthly return adding a healthy +0.9% to the overall performance. The Fund increased the overall gross exposure in M&A from a low of 24.7% to 43% during the month. The Relative Value book which comprises of catalyst driven reversion trades hedged with highly correlated pairs contributed +0.50% to the Fund's overall performance. The Directional Alpha book which includes a diversified book of conservative directional positions consistent with the Fund's long-term net exposure of 10 to 20% also positively contributed to the Fund (+0.62%). During the month, the Fund's net and gross exposures averaged 18.2% and 174.9% respectively during the month. |
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KIS Asia Long Short Fund
22 Jun 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
KIS Asia Long Short Fund returned -0.51% in May, taking the return for the most recent 12 months to 8.23%.
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22 Jun 2017 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Whilst the Fund's primary strategy is focused on long/short equities, the ability to retain discretionary powers to allocate across a number of other investment strategies is reserved. These strategies may include, but not be limited to: convertible bond investments, portfolio hedging, equity related arbitrage, special situations (e.g. merger arbitrage, rights offerings, participation in international public offerings and placements, etc.). The Fund's geographic focus is Asia excluding Japan, but including Australia). The Fund may invest outside of this region to the extent that: 1. The investment decision is driven from the Asian region or; 2. The exposure is intended to mitigate risk or enhance return from factors external to the Asian region. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's positive contributors included a long position in Cardinal Resources Ltd (CDV.AX) 0.40% and short positions in Bendigo, Adelaide Bank Ltd (BEN.AX) 0.29% and Stockland Ltd (SGP.AX) 0.13%. Detractors for the month included a long position in Hengdeli Holdings Ltd (3389.HK) -0.21%, a short postion in Caltex Australia Ltd (CTX.AX) -0.20% and a long position in O-Net Technologies Group Ltd (0877.HK) -0.19%. |
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