TOTUS ALPHA FUND

Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Totus Alpha Fund.

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

• Totus Capital is a Sydney based long short fund manager established in 2012 by Ben McGarry which aims to place equal emphasis on performance and capital preservation.  The Fund invests mainly in Australia, but also in other developed economies, with a primary exposure to equity markets.
• The Totus Alpha Fund's investment strategy is to identify structural themes, and then seek to drive performance by investing in securities that have concentrated exposure to those themes.  Single stock short positions are used to generate alpha, frequently in under researched parts of the market such as the small and mid-cap space. Index derivatives are used to hedge the portfolio's market risk.
• McGarry qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PWC in 1999 and has 15 years market experience, commencing his career covering European building materials and construction sectors at Morgan Stanley in London. Previous experience included analytical roles at Ausbil, a Sydney based $10bn+ long-only manager, and sell side emerging companies experience at UBS. McGarry's emerging company research with UBS included exposure to a range of sectors including energy, materials, industrials, tech, financials, retail and telecommunications.
• The Fund has delivered an annalised return of 32.05% since inception in March 2012 as compared to 8.44% for the ASX 200 Accumulation Index. The standard deviation has been higher than the Index at 13.88% as compared to 12.39% and the Sharpe ratio is 1.90.  

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESTotus Alpha Fund AFM Fund Review January 2016 (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 9.69% p.a., compared to the AFM's Asia Pacific Index of 4.95%. The Fund has achieved this with lower volatility of 6.18% (Index 11.96%).

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

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESPengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund - AFM Fund Review January 2016 (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 maximise absolute returns through active and constant risk management, targeting monthly a net market exposure of 0% to hedge broader market risks through 30 S&P/ASX-100 positions (15 long & 15 short equally-weighted positions).
• Qato Capital's process is entirely 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.

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESQato Capital AFM Fund Review January 2016 (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 supported by Stephen Nicholls and Justin Hay have over 100 years combined experience in equity markets.

• In January, the Fund rose 0.2%. The Fund's approach to risk is shown by the Sharpe ratio of 1.47 (Index 0.12), Sortino ratio of 3.32 (Index 0.12), 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.

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESOptimal Australia Absolute Trust AFM Fund Review January 2016 (pdf format)

BENNELONG KARDINIA ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND

Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review. You are also able to view the Fund's Profile.

• The Fund is long biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies with an nine year track record. 

• The Fund has significantly outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index since its inception in May 2006 and also has significantly lower risk KPI's. The Fund has an annualised return of 12.22% p.a. with a volatility of 7.34%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 3.97% p.a. with volatility of 14.31%.

• The Fund also has a strong focus on capital protection in negative markets. Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder have significant market experience, while Bennelong Funds Management provide infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution capabilities.

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

Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESBennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund AFM Monthly Report January 2016 (pdf format)