NEWS
21 Apr 2016 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund
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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 | This month the gains in this portfolio were driven from the Fund's long side. The long/short strategy generated 256bp. The biggest contributor on the long side was Paladin Energy Ltd (PDN.AX), which contributed 73bp. On the short side, the position in Ramsay Health Care (RHC.AX) benefited us. The Special Situations strategy costed the Fund 28bp, while the This Portfolio Hedge strategy did not make a significant contribution to this month's returns. Click below to read the latest monthly Fund Report. |
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21 Apr 2016 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund March 2016
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 9.87% p.a., compared to the AFM's Asia Pacific Index of 4.32%. The Fund has achieved this with lower volatility of 6.12% (Index 11.95%).
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - March 2016 (pdf format)
20 Apr 2016 - Fund Review: APN Asian REIT Fund March 2016
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 a sustainable rental income streams.
- The Fund has delivered an annalised return of 16.42% p.a., since inception in July 2011 with standard deviation of 9.62% p.a. The Sharpe and Sortino ratios are 1.34 and 2.46 respectively.
AFM Fund Review - March 2016 (pdf format)
20 Apr 2016 - Totus Alpha Fund
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| Fund Overview | The Fund is a long/short investment fund principally investing in listed entities, commodities, futures and options in Australia and internationally. The Fund is not a market neutral fund and accordingly may switch between net long positions and net short positions. The Fund may use short sales and derivatives. Gearing may be used to enhance returns and the Fund may be geared in excess of 100% of the Fund's Net Asset Value. There is a limit to net exposure of 150%. |
| Manager Comments | At month-end, the fund had a net exposure of 15.3% and a gross exposure of 235.9%. The fund held 123 positions (52 long and 71 short), that were diversified across multiple investment themes. For the month, the long positions recovered but it was the short positions again that costed the fund. Top contributors were the long positions in Smart Group +1.25% and McMillan Shakespeare +1.18%. A short position in 1-Page added +0.89%. Biggest detractors were the short positions in Worley Parsons -1.80%, Primary Health Care -1.05% and Fortescue -0.57%. Click below to read the latest Fund's Monthly Report. |
| More Information |
19 Apr 2016 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund March 2016
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 11.83% p.a. with a volatility of 7.33%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 4.2% p.a. with volatility of 14.27%.
- 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.
AFM Fund Review March 2016 (pdf format)
19 Apr 2016 - NWQ Fiduciary Fund
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce returns, after management fees and expenses of between 8% to 11% p.a. over rolling five-year periods. Furthermore, the Fund aims to achieve these returns with volatility that is a fraction of the Australian equity market, in order to smooth returns for investors. |
| Manager Comments | Fund returns were negative in March as global equity markets rallied with a continuation of the unsustainable rotation to low quality stocks. The portfolio's Beta managers, utilising a range of long/short equity strategies, were able to capture some of the market upside, attributing +0.04% to the Fund's return. Alpha managers with greater exposure to short positions, contributed -1.43%. It remains the view of NWQ that there exist further potential for destructive equity and bond market volatility in the coming months and therefore the portfolio has an overweight allocation to Alpha or market neutral strategies. Click below to read the latest Fund's Report. |
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19 Apr 2016 - Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund
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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. |
| Manager Comments | For the month, the best performing sectors in the Australian market were the Resources and Banking sectors, which accounted for approximately 37% of the market's total value. The Fund struggled against the strength of the Resources sector, as it did not have any exposure. The largest detractor was IPH, an intellectual property professional services firm that met its earnings guidance but nevertheless was sold down presumably because the market had expected more. Click below to read the latest Fund Report. |
| More Information |
18 Apr 2016 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust March 2016
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 March, the Fund rose 2.34%. The Fund's approach to risk is shown by the Sharpe ratio of 1.54 (Index 0.15), Sortino ratio of 3.52 (Index 0.10), 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.
18 Apr 2016 - Pengana Global Small Companies Fund
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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 largest positive contributors to March performance were: Moleskine, Halogen Software, Sarine Technologies, China Lodging Group, and Rent-A-Center; while the largest detractors were: Fondul Proprietatea, Credito Real, Daikokutenbussan, Spirit Airlines, and Rami Levy Chain Stores. Currency had a negative impact on the Fund, detracting close to 5% for the month, as the Australian dollar appreciated sharply. There were no new additions to the portfolio this month. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's report. |
| More Information |
16 Apr 2016 - Hedge Clippings
Bubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble.
Hedge Clippings is probably not the only party to be frustrated by what has broadly been portrayed as "debate" about the upcoming budget, or for that matter the overall political stand-off that now seems to be the norm in Australia.
With Parliament due to resume next week, and the budget now only a few weeks away, we hope things will become a little bit clearer. However what seems to be abundantly clear is that while everyone understands that as a nation we are living beyond our means, the reality is that the only way to fix it is to either reduce expenditure, or increase revenue.
It really doesn't matter whether this is applied at the household, corporate or government level, the rules remain the same. Unfortunately at government level reducing expenditure translates into either reduced welfare, or reduced services such as health and education. Meanwhile increasing revenue translates into higher taxation, or a reduction of various tax breaks.
Under the Abraham Lincoln political rule that you can "please some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time," whatever is handed down in this year's budget is going to disappoint. Everyone wants more, while no one wants to give up what they've already got.
Added to that is the problem that the Turnbull government, which kicked off with so much optimism, seems to have been backed into a corner of having to rule out most budget options before they started. We guess the PM will be ruing the day that he didn't take over and call an early (read "immediate") election last November, and use the following three years to get on with it. We certainly are.
Finally this week the IMF downgraded forecasts for world economic growth, while interestingly also being a bit more optimistic about China's outlook. We take this news with a pinch of salt, as the IMF's track record for economic fortune telling hasn't been too good over the years. Whether it's the economic models they are using, or the possibility that they are cocooned in ivory towers, it's a long time (if ever) since the IMF predicted world economic growth accurately, instead consistently having to downgrade their previous forecasts as they catch up to the real world economy.
Meanwhile as markets, particullary in Australia, seem to continue to see-saw, some March fund results came in as follows:
Meme Australian Share Fund returned a positive 3.38% to take their latest 12 months return to 9.20%.
Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund finished up +1.68% for the month, compared to the HFR Event Driven Index which rose +2.6%.
The Paragon Fund rose an impressive 7.40% for the month to take annualised return since inception to 17.13% p.a.
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust recorded a positive 2.30% to take prior 12 months return to 12.59%.
Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund returned +0.30% to take annual returns since inception to 11.83% p.a.
APN Asian REIT Fund returned -2.70%, compared to the BBAREIT Index's return of -4.29%, to give an outperformance of 1.59%.
Cyan C3G Fund fell 3.38% to take latest 12 months return to 27.86%, after posting a gain of 48% in calendar 2015.
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned -6.73% to take 12 month performance to 22.71% with annual returns since inception of 17.81% p.a.
Supervised High Yield Fund returned a positive 0.20% for the month of February, to bring annualised performance since inception to 9.39% p.a., Standard Deviation of 2.1% and a Sharpe Ratio of 2.86.
FUND REVIEWS released this week: Meme Australian Share Fund; Morphic Global Opporunities Fund; Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund; Insync Global Titans Fund; QATO Capital Market Neutral Long/Short; Supervised High Yield Fund;
And on that note, have a great week-end.
Regards,
Chris
CEO, AUSTRALIAN FUND MONITORS
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