NEWS
Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
8 Mar 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Australian Long Short Fund returned -5.0% for the month of February and +9.96% for the latest 12 months.
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8 Mar 2017 - Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Paragon believes that markets are not always efficient, exhibiting a common tendency to price securities well outside of their intrinsic value over the medium term. This market characteristic provides the opportunity for Paragon, an active manager with a flexible mandate, to generate superior investment returns over the longer term. Paragon believes that it is critical to understand both the companies and the industries in which they operate, in order to fully comprehend each investment opportunity. Accordingly, a fundamental approach to company research is taken. Assessing the potential downside is also paramount in framing the risk/reward trade-off for potential investments. |
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Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund January 2017
7 Mar 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Insync Global Titans Fund is now available.
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7 Mar 2017 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund January 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
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 returned -0.94% for the month of January. The performance was driven by positive contributions from our holdings in Zimmer, Comcast, BAT, Medtronic and eBay. The main negative contributors were Mead Johnson, McDonald's Corp, and Johnson & Johnson.
- 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.
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund January 2017
3 Mar 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review is now available on Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund, which has an annualised return of 8.58% p.a.
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3 Mar 2017 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund January 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - January 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 8.58% p.a., compared to the MSCI ACWI Asia Pacific Price Index's return of 3.43% p.a.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund
2 Mar 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund was down -1.47% in January, to take the latest 6 months to 4.05%. 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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2 Mar 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 | January's underperformance was largely driven by the International long term portfolio which detracted -1.02%. Some of this detraction came from Peru (-0.16%) and Canada (-0.17%) due to the portfolio's underexposure to copper and silver, both of which were up approximately +7% for the month. U.S. Large caps and U.S. mergers and acquisitions also detracted a combined -0.30% from the performance. On the positive side, overweight positions in Incyte Corp. and Vertex held due to their strong Patent model score, outperformed for the month. |
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Insync Global Titans Fund
2 Mar 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund returned -0.94% in January, compared to the MSCI All Country World ex-Australia Net Total Return Index in $A, which returned -2.0%.
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2 Mar 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 Zimmer, Comcast, BAT, Medtronic, and eBay. The main negative contributors were Mead Johnson, McDonald's Corp, and Johnson & Johnson. 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 a put protection strategy. |
| More Information |
Fund Review: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund January 2017
28 Feb 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund is now available.
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28 Feb 2017 - Fund Review: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund January 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (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 Australian Equities 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.
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
Fund Review: QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund January 2017
27 Feb 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review is now available on QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund, investing exclusively in S&P/ASX 100 stocks.
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27 Feb 2017 - Fund Review: QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund January 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- Qato Capital is a Melbourne-based boutique fund manager backed by single family office, Larkfield Funds Management.
- Qato has a systematic, market-neutral strategy which invests exclusively in S&P/ASX 100 stocks.
- The QATO Capital's Q-score process captures and quantifies six broad fundamental factors, which assess multiple underlying sub-categories. Those companies with the top score (quality companies) are included in the "long" portfolio, those with the lowest score are sold short.
- The Fund seeks to preserve capital and maximises absolute returns through active and constant risk management, targeting monthly a net market exposure of 0% to hedge broader market risks through S&P/ASX-100 positions. In a typical environment, the Fund targets 25 long and 25 short positions.
- Qato Capital's process is systematic - stock selection and risk management are employed in a rules-based approach. The Fund employs no financial leverage/gearing to purchase securities, no derivatives, and no financial products to imitate leverage.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
King Tide NZ/Australian Long/Short Equity Fund
24 Feb 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
King Tide NZ/Australian Long/Short Equity Fund returned -0.45% for the month of January and +17.5% over the latest 24 months.
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24 Feb 2017 - King Tide NZ/Australian Long/Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The fund seeks to outperform the market with less volatility than the market by allocating capital to a select group of eight to sixteen funds whose investment mandates allow them to use short selling of equities and equity indices, to use derivatives to manage risk, to use leverage and to hold large amounts of cash. In-depth proprietary research is used to select and monitor fund managers with particular emphasis on their ability to manage equity market risk through stock selection, short selling and the use of derivatives and cash. |
| Manager Comments | Amongst the Fund's managers 8 of 15 returned positive results for the month with 10 of them outperforming their local market. Monash, Smallco, and Auscap were the key detractors for the month, falling -4.01%, -2.70% and -1.20% respectively. L1, Paragon and PIE Growth were the biggest contributors for the month, with returns of 2.51%, 2.29%, and 0.68%. At the end of the month, King Tide added Level 18 Fund to their portfolio, following on from the final redemption of Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund at the end of December. |
| More Information |
Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
24 Feb 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund beat the market (S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index) posting a positive return of 2.12% for the month of January 2017.
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24 Feb 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 (54.1%) was invested in the Discretionary, Health Care and Consumer Staples sectors. The Fund's top holdings included Westpac Banking, National Australia Bank, CSL, Aristocrat Leisure. 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. |
| More Information |
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust January 2017
23 Feb 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Read the latest Fund Review on Optimal Australian Absolute Trust.
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23 Feb 2017 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust January 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
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, and Stephen Nicholls bring 100 years combined experience in equity markets.
- In January, the Fund returned -1.0%, to take annualised return since inception to 8.32% p.a. The Fund's approach to risk is shown by the Sharpe ratio of 1.33 (Index 0.22), Sortino ratio of 2.75 (Index 0.23), both of which are well above the ASX 200 Accumulation Index and has recorded 80% positive months.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - January 2017 (pdf format)
