BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund Performance - February 2013

14 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund delivers 1.35% during February 2013 and 6.88% over the preceding 12 months.

14 Mar 2013 - BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund Performance - February 2013

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	12 March 2013
Manager	BlackRock Asset Management Australia Limited
Fund Name	BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund
Strategy	Equity Market Neutral
Latest Return Date	February 2013
Latest Return	1.35%
Latest 6 Months	0.75%
Latest 12 Months	6.88%
Latest 24 Months	31.40%
Annualised Since Inception	12.16%
Inception Date	31 August 2001
FUM (millions)
Fund Overview	The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund aims to deliver returns that are 8% per annum above those of the RBA Cash Rate Target before fees, over rolling 3 year periods. The Fund's portfolio primarily consists of long and short Australian equity positions. The Fund may also invest in other funds managed by BlackRock. Derivative securities, such as futures, forwards, swaps and options, can be used to manage risk and return Key insights into the investment process include: Analyst Expectations, Relative Valuation, Earnings Quality, Market Signals and Timing. Short-Term return enhancing opportunities including: Dividend reinvestment plans, Manging index changes, Managing cash flows, Arbitrage, Initial public offerings and Seasoned Equity Offerings and Off Market Buybacks.
Manager Comments	The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund returned 1.35% during February 2013 and 6.88% over the preceding 12 months. The fund benchmark recorded 3.49% over the same time and fund therefore delivered net alpha of 3.39% to end-February. The manager comments that the Australian equity market continued its rally into February with the S&P/ASX 200 Price Index up 4.6% to mark its third consecutive month of gains. This was despite some volatility caused by concerns about US Federal Reserve policy and the Italian election result. Investors were buoyed by an earnings season that tended to see companies meet or beat expectations, with cost reductions and margin improvement recurring themes, and payout ratios generally lifted. The bullish tone was not reflected in a typical risk on rally, with ASX200 Resources up 0.6% while ASX200 REITs were up 3.5% and Industrials up 6.9%. The search for yield in the equity market appeared to focus mainly on the big four banks, which outperformed strongly. Domestic Cyclicals performed well through the results season, particularly financials and retailers, as better than expected results squeezed short positions. Despite the continued market valuation expansion, the result season saw a greater differentiation in returns at the individual stock level than was witnessed in January. This favored the fund's investment process and led to a rebound in active performance. The fund recorded contributions from JB Hi-Fi, Bluescope Steel, Cochlear, IAG and NAB. Detractors from performance include Seek, Toll, Alumina, QBE and Treasury Group.
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Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

13 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returns -0.50% for February 2013 and 1.89% for the preceding 12 months.

13 Mar 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	10 March 2013
Manager	Optimal Fund Management Australia
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	February 2013
Latest Return	-0.50%
Latest 6 Months	1.86%
Latest 12 Months	1.89%
Latest 24 Months	10.04%
Annualised Since Inception	12.05%
Inception Date	15 September 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$136
Fund Overview	The investment objective of the Fund is to seek to achieve above average returns in absolute terms, through investing in listed securities in Australia and New Zealand, subject to the overarching requirement of capital preservation. Investments will predominantly be in equity securities but may include fixed interest instruments, money market instruments, derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. The Fund's bias is likely to be net long under normal market conditions, with the core strategy being to construct a portfolio of listed equity securities priced at levels that do not adequately reflect their underlying value. The Fund will seek to boost returns and limit potential market downside by selective short selling of individual stocks which are priced at levels that are viewed as materially above their underlying value. The Fund will also use certain trading strategies both within its core portfolio (through rebalancing stock weights and overall market exposure in response to price movements) and in certain other situations (typically of a shorter-duration and/or opportunistic nature) with the objective of further increasing returns.
Manager Comments	The Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned -0.50% for February 2013 and 1.89% for the preceding 12 months. The manager notes that the equity market had a strong month in February, led by a small group of defensive and financial large-cap names. In terms of sectors, the leaders were Consumer Staples up 9.7% and Financials up 6.5%. The concentration of returns was evidenced by the fact that eight names contributed to 50% of the market increase in 2012 and this phenomenon has accelerated into 2013. Market breadth is therefore very narrow and the performance gap between defensive industrials and resources has reached levels unprecedented in the manager's experience. The Fund is under-represented in these most popular sectors, as the manager finds the combination of high valuations and low (and declining) earnings growth unattractive. Major factors impacting the market include money flows into quantitative funds, retail investors search for yield and investors benefiting from the AUD carry trade. Major contributions to the Fund's return came from long position in banks and insurance and energy and losses from short positions in banks, consumer staples and media. At month-end the Fund was 33.5% long, 14.2% short and had a short equity derivatives position of 10.7% for net risk exposure of 3% and a gross risk exposure of 60.3%.
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Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund

12 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund delivers -0.28% for February 2013 and 21.95% for the previous 12 months.

Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

11 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund delivers 2.35% during February 2013 and 14.84% for the year ended February, well above its benchmark of the RBA Cash Rate.

11 Mar 2013 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	07 March 2013
Manager	Bennelong Group
Fund Name	Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	February 2013
Latest Return	2.35%
Latest 6 Months	9.19%
Latest 12 Months	14.84%
Latest 24 Months	14.23%
Annualised Since Inception	14.39%
Inception Date	01 May 2006
FUM (millions)	AU$44.6
Fund Overview	The Kardinia Absolute Return Fund is an Australian domiciled equity long/short fund investing in ASX listed securities. The Fund uses exchange traded call options and there is limited use of SPI futures contracts to hedge overall market risk. The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 30 to 40 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. The Fund was launched on 17th August 2011 following the resignation of Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder from Herschel Asset Management in late July 2011. As a result management of the Fund was transferred to Kardinia Capital, a new boutique fund manager 65% owned by Burgess and Rehder, with the balance owned by Bennelong Funds Management. The Fund's investment strategy and prior track record remains intact.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund delivered 2.35% during February 2013 and 14.84% for the year ended February, well above its benchmark of the RBA Cash Rate. The manager notes that the ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index was up 5.2% over the month despite a domestic reporting season that was only slightly above expectations and driven mainly by cost-cutting and margin improvement. Within the market the notable sectors were Consumer Staples up 10.8% and Financials, up 8.1%. Large caps rose 5.7%, significantly out-performing small caps, up 0.9%. Large positive contributors to the Fund were NAB,CSL, ANZ and News Corp with negative contributions from Fortescue and Regis. Net equity exposure increased to 63.1% (75.8% long and 12.7% short).
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BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund

8 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund delivers 0.66% during January 2013 and 11.29% over the preceding 12 months.

8 Mar 2013 - BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	05 March 2013
Manager	BlackRock Asset Management Australia Limited
Fund Name	BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
Strategy	Multi Strategy
Latest Return Date	January 2013
Latest Return	0.66%
Latest 6 Months	3.62%
Latest 12 Months	11.29%
Latest 24 Months	28.47%
Annualised Since Inception	8.98%
Inception Date	30 July 2004
FUM (millions)	AU$386.16
Fund Overview	The BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund (the Fund) is a multi-strategy fund that seeks to benefit from BlackRock's ability to systematically exploit inefficiencies across a broad range of global investment markets. The Fund harnesses BlackRock's best research ideas that are based on sound economic principles which are implemented via a systematic investment process and combined into one investment vehicle. The Fund gains exposure to a diversified group of absolute return strategies which currently include: - Australian and International Equity Long/Short - Global Fixed Income Long/Short - Global Macro - Commodity Alpha - Alpha Transport The Fund's goal is to provide investors with a source of consistent, risk-controlled, absolute returns that are over time, expected to have low correlations with the returns of major asset classes. The Fund aims to achieve a return of 8% p.a. before fees, above the RBA Cash Rate Target over rolling 3 year periods. In order to achieve its expected return objective, the Fund will target a total expected risk of between 4-6% p.a. over the same rolling 3 year period.
Manager Comments	The BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund delivered 0.66% during January 2013 and 11.29% over the preceding 12 months. The Fund's performance in January was driven by a number of strategies however the Australian long/short equity strategy was a notable detractor. This was due to the strong performances from many of the more volatile and poor quality stocks over the month. Significant contributions came from long positions in selected domestic cyclicals and stable yield names. At month-end the Fund's risk allocation was Equity 30.4%, Fixed Income 34.7% and Global Macro 34.9%. The Fund has now had positive monthly returns since May 2010.
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BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund

7 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund delivers -2.98% during January 2013 and 6.22% for the previous 12 months.

7 Mar 2013 - BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	05 March 2013
Manager	BlackRock Asset Management Australia Limited
Fund Name	BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund
Strategy	Equity Market Neutral
Latest Return Date	January 2013
Latest Return	-2.98%
Latest 6 Months	-2.14%
Latest 12 Months	6.22%
Latest 24 Months	33.29%
Annualised Since Inception	12.12%
Inception Date	31 August 2001
FUM (millions)
Fund Overview	The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund aims to deliver returns that are 8% per annum above those of the RBA Cash Rate Target before fees, over rolling 3 year periods. The Fund's portfolio primarily consists of long and short Australian equity positions. The Fund may also invest in other funds managed by BlackRock. Derivative securities, such as futures, forwards, swaps and options, can be used to manage risk and return Key insights into the investment process include: - Analyst Expectations - Relative Valuation - Earnings Quality - Market Signals - Timing Short-Term return enhancing opportunities including: - Dividend reinvestment plans - Manging index changes - Managing cash flows - Arbitrage - Initial public offerings and Seasoned Equity Offerings - Off Market Buybacks
Manager Comments	The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund delivered -2.98% during January 2013 and 6.22% for the previous 12 months. The manager notes that January saw strong performances from many of the more volatile and poor quality stocks. The portfolio suffered from strong rallies in several specific stocks in the resources sector as the market rewarded good news catalysts, despite resources under-performing overall. Significant positive contributions to the portfolio came from long positions in selected domestic cyclicals and stable yield names. Two of the Fund’s top contributors for the month were the long positions in Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) and Flight Centre (FLT). Among the top detractors were the short positions in Linc Energy (LNC) and Alumina(AWC). The Fund has notable sector over-weights in Materials, Consumer Discretionary and Financials and a zero weight in Consumer Staples.
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Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund

6 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund delivers 0.83% for February 2013 and 29.74% for the preceding 12 months.

6 Mar 2013 - Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	05 March 2013
Manager	Microequities
Fund Name	Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	February 2013
Latest Return	0.83%
Latest 6 Months	21.72%
Latest 12 Months	29.74%
Latest 24 Months	35.27%
Annualised Since Inception	32.21%
Inception Date	06 March 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$15
Fund Overview	The Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund invests primarily in ASX listed Microcap securities, which are at the time of investment generally below a market capitalisation of A$250 million. The Fund objective is to identify undervalued Microcap companies, invest in them and through a medium to long term commitment attempt to deliver superior investment returns. The Fund makes investments with a medium to long term time horizon of between 12 months to 3-5 years in the companies it selects for investment. The Fund invests in companies generating positive earnings (EBITDA) for at least 2 years with a stable management and track record for delivering value to shareholders.
Manager Comments	The Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund delivered 0.83% for February 2013 and 29.74% for the preceding 12 months. The Fund used the past month to purchase additional stakes in some of the best businesses in the utilities sector and telecommunications, taking advantage of weaker share prices in those sectors. The Fund also exited Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) after a holding period that dates back to the Fund’s inception. The manager notes that they are admirers of Webjet as a business, its management and the board but the decision to dis-invest was based on the fact that it was trading well above intrinsic value. In terms of outlook the Australian economy is poised for an interesting year. A number of industries like construction, manufacturing, and to a lesser extent retailing are experiencing difficult operating climates. Across the services sector there are pockets of buoyancy whilst the mining sector, despite the negative headlines, is still providing a supportive role in economic growth. The overall mix of these scenarios means domestic 2013 GDP is likely to come in below trend growth rate of 3%, and hover between 2.0% to 2.6%.
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K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund

5 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund delivers 1.8% for February 2013 and 13.7% for the previous 12 months.

5 Mar 2013 - K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	03 March 2013
Manager	K2 Asset Management
Fund Name	K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	February 2013
Latest Return	1.78%
Latest 6 Months	11.84%
Latest 12 Months	13.66%
Latest 24 Months	6.73%
Annualised Since Inception	10.46%
Inception Date	01 January 2005
FUM (millions)	AU$228.4
Fund Overview	K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund invests in global equities on a long/short, opportunistic trading basis. The K2 Select International fund is an AUD-denominated unit trust. Its strategy combines macro asset allocation with multi-variable stock selection. Internal and external research is extensive. K2 limits single-security exposure to 10% of the fund's NAV on a cost basis. Gearing is employed at a maximum of two times, mainly used to reduce net long exposure. The fund has a long bias, targeting 50% to 60% net long over an investment cycle. Cash positions have exceeded 50% and been as low as 5%. 50 to 70 positions are typically held. The management employs several stop-loss measures, including a stop-loss policy of 10% on shorts.
Manager Comments	The K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund delivered 1.8% for February 2013 and 13.7% for the previous 12 months. The fund maintained net equity exposure in a 95-100% range over February. With global markets somewhat mixed and in many cases volatile, the regional variance of markets was quite big with the fund's best performance achieved in Australia, US and Europe, with Asia the main weak spot. At the stock level, Google, a new investment and also the funds largest investment was the biggest contributor to performance over the month. Elsewhere large contributions came from French food tester Eurofins and US refiner Marathon Petroleum. The manager's outlook for equity markets remains positive but indicates that the Italian election result, weak Chinese economic data, the onset of sequestration and the pending budget funding approval in the US all represent near term risks which are likely to cause some volatility in markets over the short term. However the manager notes that the real risk to markets will come when central banks either choose or are forced to change tack on monetary stimulus.
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Nanuk Clean Energy Fund

4 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Nanuk Clean Energy Fund delivers 7.72% during January 2013 and 10.94% over the preceding 12 months.

4 Mar 2013 - Nanuk Clean Energy Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	28 February 2013
Manager	Nanuk Asset Management Pty Ltd
Fund Name	Nanuk Clean Energy fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	January 2013
Latest Return	7.72%
Latest 6 Months	14.72%
Latest 12 Months	10.94%
Latest 24 Months
Annualised Since Inception	1.60%
Inception Date	01 June 2011
FUM (millions)	US$23.7
Fund Overview	The Nanuk Clean Energy Fund is a long-short global equity fund investing in companies positively exposed to a long-term structural shift towards cleaner and more efficient energy generation, management and use. The Fund aims to achieve long term capital appreciation while reducing volatility of returns and risk of capital loss through appropriate hedging and risk management strategies.
Manager Comments	The Nanuk Clean Energy Fund delivered 7.72% during January 2013 and 10.94% over the preceding 12 months. There were positive contributions from both long and short positions. Since inception (1 June 2011) the Fund has returned 2.66% as against -40.89% against the NEX Clean Energy Index. Wind stocks were particularly strong during January.The share prices of European wind equipment manufacturers and project developers responded to Decemberʼs announcement of an extension to the US Production Tax Credit, a mechanism responsible for most of the wind development activity in the US. Also during the month, Chinaʼs energy plan for the period of 2011-15, was released which included a wind installation target of 18GW, ahead of most expectations. Share prices in Chinese wind equipment manufacturers and developers responded positively. At January month-end the Fund was 83% long and 73% short for a gross exposure of 156% and a net long exposure of 14%. The Fundʼs five largest long positions were a European wind farm operator, an energy storage solutions supplier, a Chinese hydro-power generator, a European renewable energy power operator and high voltage cable manufacturer. The five largest short positions were a European energy efficiency and insulation supplier, an electric equipment supplier, two energy equipment suppliers and an industrial chemicals supplier. After two months of solid gains supported by positive industry developments, we are more confident that 2012 represented a share price floor for a number of clean energy companies. Nevertheless we remain cautious about a possible market pull back in the near term.
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LHC Capital Australia High Conviction Fund

1 Mar 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The LHC Capital Australia High Conviction Fund delivers 0.12% during January and 16.7% for the preceding 12 months.

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14 Mar 2013 - BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund Performance - February 2013

13 Mar 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

12 Mar 2013 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund

11 Mar 2013 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

8 Mar 2013 - BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund

7 Mar 2013 - BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund

6 Mar 2013 - Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund

5 Mar 2013 - K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund

4 Mar 2013 - Nanuk Clean Energy Fund

1 Mar 2013 - LHC Capital Australia High Conviction Fund

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