Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

27 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Morphic Global Opportunities Fund rose 0.02% in April as its benchmark (MSCI AC World Total Return in Australian Dollars) fell 0.33%, resulting in
outperformance of 0.35%.

27 May 2015 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	25 May 2015
Manager	Morphic Asset Management
Fund Name	Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	0.02%
Latest 6 Months	18.14%
Latest 12 Months	30.18%
Latest 24 Months	62.82%
Annualised Since Inception	27.78%
Inception Date	02 August 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$106
Fund Overview	The Fund will primarily consist of Global listed shares, and will generally have at least 50% of its net assets invested in these. It may also have short positions in shares that the Manager believes are over-valued, and likely to fall in price, as well as long and short positions in index futures and other derivatives, fixed interest instruments, commodities, credit instruments and currencies.
Manager Comments	Morphic Global Opportunities Fund rose 0.02% in April as its benchmark (MSCI AC World Total Return in Australian Dollars) fell 0.33%, resulting in outperformance of 0.35%. Since inception the Fund's annualised return per annum was 27.78%, compared to the AFM Global Equity Index of 27.67%. The biggest contribution to performance for the Fund was the overweight index position in China. Chinese stocks continue to do well as monetary policy is eased further as the government tries to moderate what is now clearly a slowing in the long term growth rate. The Fund expects much of the newer money to prefer to buy the Hong Kong listed shares of major Chinese companies for convenience, and because of the significant price gap that is now apparent. The main detractors from performance were two long held positions in Axis Bank from India and US fund manager Ameriprise. Axis reported excellent results but has been caught up in a general slide in Indian stocks. Ameriprise reported results below market expectations and there was hit by worries about tougher rules in the US financial advisory industry. We believe these are temporary concerns and Ameriprise actually stands to benefit from these legislative changes in the USA. Click below to read the complete April 2015 Fund Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Avenir Value Fund

27 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Avenir Value Fund returned -3.57% in the month of April compared to the ASX 200 Accumulation Index -1.70%.

27 May 2015 - Avenir Value Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	25 May 2015
Manager	Avenir Capital Pty Ltd
Fund Name	Avenir Value Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	-3.57%
Latest 6 Months	-0.34%
Latest 12 Months	2.08%
Latest 24 Months	42.96%
Annualised Since Inception	15.31%
Inception Date	01 August 2011
FUM (millions)	AU$13
Fund Overview	The Fund runs a relatively concentrated portfolio which allows our best ideas to drive performance. The Fund also invests with a longer term time horizon than many in the investment management industry as we believe that, given time, the underlying value of a well chosen business will always prevail over short-term mis-pricing that may occur in a company's securities. The Fund will invest in securities where Avenir believes the company is simply mis-priced and deeply undervalued and offers significant potential for revaluation. The Fund will also invest in companies that are subject to specific corporate events such as mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, recapitalisations, spin-offs, demergers, management change, distressed situations, and other sharply delineated corporate events. The Fund will also selectively invest in short positions in companies where Avenir believes the company is significantly overvalued or where the company's business model is broken or structurally challenged.
Manager Comments	Avenir Value Fund returned -3.57% in the month of April compared to the ASX 200 Accumulation Index -1.70%. The Fund's performance since inception was 15.31% p.a. (Index 12.50% p.a.). The Fund's cumulative performance since inception was 70.58% compared to the MSCI All Cap All Country Accumulation Index's 55.56%. The Fund's notable Sharpe and Sortino ratios are 1.04 and 1.77 respectively since inception in August 2011. At month-end, the Fund's geographical disposition was 46.1% US, 13.7% Asia, 12.9% Western Europe, 1% Australia, 11.4% other and 15.4% cash. The top 10 holdings were 62% of NAV. Click below to read the April 2015 Fund Report
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund April 2015

26 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Fund review available for Bennelong Long Short Fund which has over twelve year track record and annualised returns of 17.33%.

Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund

26 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 0.54% over the month of April, bringing its annual performance since inception to 19.13%.

26 May 2015 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	21 May 2015
Manager	Laminar Group
Fund Name	Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
Strategy	Fixed Income
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	0.54%
Latest 6 Months	3.74%
Latest 12 Months	8.37%
Latest 24 Months	21.35%
Annualised Since Inception	19.13%
Inception Date	31 October 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$59
Fund Overview	The aim of the fund is to identify opportunities in the fixed income credit markets. The Fund invests in a full spectrum of fixed income products that includes but is not limited to: corporate bonds,; bank debt; credit derivatives; bank loans;commercial paper;hybrid securities; and mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. The Fund may also invest in derivatives for hedging purposes. The portfolio of the Fund comprises primarily Investment Grade holding of 75% of the Fund's assets. Benchmark allocations are Australasia 50% to 100%, North America 0% to 50% and Europe 0% to 50%. Currency hedging may take place depending on benefits to the Fund.
Manager Comments	The Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 0.54% over the month of April, bringing its annual performance since inception to 19.13%, with the annual volatility of 7.50%. The Fund has notable Sharpe and Sortino Ratio of 1.94 and 19.17 respectively. Majority of the Fund's portfolio composition was in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) at 71% and in Short-dated loans at 18%. Laminar has been vocal about avoiding tier 1 securities and as bank stocks have sold off over the last couple of weeks, tier 1bonds have followed. For higher yielding assets, Laminar's preference has been RMBS, which continues to perform extremely well with low volatility and steadily rising prices. The Fund will maintain a healthy allocation to these assets Click on the link below to read the latest Fund Manager's Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

KIS Asia Long Short Fund

25 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

KIS Asia Long Short Fund rose 4.04% during April, bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 15.48% p.a.

25 May 2015 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	22 May 2015
Manager	KIS Capital Partners
Fund Name	KIS Asia Long Short Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	4.04%
Latest 6 Months	7.58%
Latest 12 Months	8.41%
Latest 24 Months	23.95%
Annualised Since Inception	15.48%
Inception Date	01 October 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$37
Fund Overview	The Fund's investment objective is to generate absolute returns, in Australian dollars, of around 15% p.a. after all fees without noticeable correlation to any particular asset class or market. 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	KIS Asia Long Short Fund rose 4.04% during April, bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 15.48% p.a. In comparison, the AFM Asia Pacific ex-Japan Benchmark annual return has been 5.52% p.a. The Fund achieved these returns with lower volatility of 5.52% (Index 9.31%), to give strong Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 2.04 (Index 0.25) and 4.81 (Index 0.29) over the same time frame. Majority of the month's return came from the Long Short Strategy, contributing 355bp. In April the spotlight was on the Hong Kong (HK) and China equity markets. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) rallied 17% while the Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) gained 20%. The Fund finally saw some serious volume in the Southbound Connect flows after a lackluster start back in November. With such an extraordinary rise in Chinese and HK stocks over the past 6 months, investors are starting to look at potential excesses in the market. Margin lending is the biggest focus and the Fund has and will continue to do work around this issue. Elsewhere April was fairly quiet. For the month ahead, investors, will be questioning the 'sell in May' seasonality. Australia has a budget to hand down that is unlikely to cause fireworks, but can have some impact on certain sectors. Click below to read the complete Fund Manager's Latest Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

The Paragon Fund

25 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Paragon Fund returned 1.10% versus the ASX 200 Accumulation's -1.70%, for the month of April 2015. The Fund's annual return since inception has been 21.24% p.a. versus the Index's 10.60% p.a.

25 May 2015 - The Paragon Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	21 May 2015
Manager	Paragon Funds Management
Fund Name	The Paragon Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	1.10%
Latest 6 Months	6.40%
Latest 12 Months	25.14%
Latest 24 Months	49.64%
Annualised Since Inception	21.24%
Inception Date	28 February 2013
FUM (millions)	AU$29
Fund Overview	Australian long-short equities absolute return fund, focusing on core competencies in the resource and industrial sectors. The Fund deploys a high conviction, long bias strategy, focusing on proprietary, fact based research. Capital preservation is a key objective of the Fund. Paragon accepts that markets are not always efficient in pricing information into securities and that no one investment style works in every stage of the investment cycle. Subsequently Paragon adopts a top down thematic led approach to identify companies exhibiting sustainable or improving returns on capital driven by volume growth, pricing power and competitive advantages. Paragon utilises both quantitative analysis to provide probability weighted high/low/base case valuations and qualitative analysis in assessing management, the business model and likely direction of returns. Paragon will allocate assets to each investment opportunity based on a risk/reward profile. Positions have defined investment parameters and risk limits, which are then monitored on an ongoing basis.
Manager Comments	The Paragon Fund returned 1.10% versus the ASX 200 Accumulation's -1.70%, for the month of April 2015. The Fund's annual return since inception has been 21.24% p.a. versus the Index's 10.60% p.a. This annual return has been achieved with similar volatility (11.42%) to the Index's 11.18%, to give notable Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 1.54 and 3.69 respectively. Key drivers of the Paragon Fund's performance for April included solid returns LNG Ltd, Oz Minerals, Mayne Pharma and Metals X. Short positions across USD exposed companies also contributed. At the end of the month the fund had 29 long positions and 13 short positions. Click below to read the complete Fund Manager's commentary.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Hedge Clippings

22 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Two different views of China

22 May 2015 - Hedge Clippings

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Two different views of China

There appear to be two different views when it comes to the outlook on China: In Thursday's Australia Financial Review Louis-Vincent Gave of Hong Kong's GaveKal Dragonomics outlined why he describes himself as a "massive China bull". The article went on to explain that Gave believes the global investment community is underexposed to Chinese stocks and bonds, and as a result will be compelled to increase its exposure over the coming 3 years as Chinese financial assets begin to be included more fully in the global benchmarks that passive, and many active institutional investors track.

That certainly could occur, and one should never ignore markets which rise on the back of the pure weight of money which either has to invest, or can find little reason not to. For an example of the latter, just consider the recent bull run in Australian bank and high yielding shares. However it doesn't necessarily mean that the fundamentals of the underlying Chinese economy, or the companies operating there are investment grade or secure.

Taking the other view is this article entitled China is Choking on its Own Debt which drew attention to the release earlier this month of the People's Bank of China's (PBoC) first quarter Monetary Policy Report. The report somewhat alarming given the authoritative source, in that it points out that:

China has too much debt
The government has relied too heavily on investment for growth
Credit expansion is no longer possible
The economy is inevitably decelerating as a result

If all of that is alarming in itself, so is the reason that the report received so little media exposure: Given that the conclusions are not new for most avid watchers of China the fact that it has yet to be published in an English language version perhaps suggests why didn't hit the headlines, most probably because the Chinese government didn't want it to.

As the article points out the PBoC website has somewhat of a history of being less than transparent when it comes to posting English language versions of articles, citing April as an example when 32 stories were posted in Chinese while only 12 made it to the English version. There are many conspiracy theorists who believe that the level of influence exerted by the Chinese government on economic statistics are, not to put it too mildly, relatively well controlled.

Which of the two opinions play out in the future remained to be seen, and to be fair the Chinese authorities' manipulative attitudehas been known to work in the long run. However a combination of the above, and anecdotal evidence of massive margin lending at street level as well as corporate, will keep the risk factor high.

Specific results received this week include the following LATEST PERFORMANCE UPDATES:

Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund performance in April was flat (0.03%), however long term performance remains sound with since inception (Jan 2003) returns of 17.33% pa (Index 8.56%) and a volatility of 11.79% (Index 12.86%).

The Pengana Absolute Return Asia Fund had a strong performance of 3.87% for the month of April, bringing the annualised return since inception to 11.43%.

Allard Investment Fund increased 1.50% during the month of April, to bring the Fund's last twelve month performance to 27.08%.

FUND REVIEWS released this week: Monash Absolute Investment Fund; Optimal Australia Absolute Trust; and Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

25-27 May 2015 - Digital Marketing for Banking and Financial Services Summit

15 September 2015 - AIMA Australia Hedge Fund Forum 2015

And Now for Something Completely Different: A few weeks ago we presented a link which allowed you to find out what song was the number one hit on the day when you were born. On the same tack (but completely different!) is this link which allows you to review what was hitting the headlines around the world on the day you were conceived! I have to admit to checking my own parents out, and came to the conclusion that there was strong possibility that I was conceived because they were simply bored. So I checked using my wife's birth date and got a very different result - which in the interests of discretion (and marital harmony) I won't reveal.

However I hope you enjoy your journey of discovery.

And on that note, enjoy the week-end.

Kind regards,

Chris

CEO

AUSTRALIAN FUND MONITORS

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Australian Fund Monitors are helping to raise awareness to support research into prevention and cure for cerebral palsy. For more information visit www.cpresearch.org.au or contact me by email.

Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund

22 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund had a strong performance of 3.87% for the month of April, bringing the annualised return since inception to 11.43%.

22 May 2015 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	20 May 2015
Manager	Pengana Capital
Fund Name	Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	3.87%
Latest 6 Months	7.95%
Latest 12 Months	11.89%
Latest 24 Months	20.16%
Annualised Since Inception	11.43%
Inception Date	01 September 2010
FUM (millions)	AU$85.8
Fund Overview	The Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund employs an event-driven investment strategy that seeks to exploit the mispricing of securities of companies involved in corporate transactions within the Asian (including Japan, Australia and New Zealand) region. Event driven strategies involve investing in opportunities created by significant transactional events, such as mergers and acquisitions, earnings surprises, capital management initiatives, capital structure arbitrage and index changes, among others. The Fund believes that significant corporate events can often create inefficiency in a company's share price which the Fund then seeks to exploit. The Fund aims to generate consistently positive returns which have a low correlation to the Asian stock markets. The objective is to generate 10-20% pa with a standard deviation of 6-10%. 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	Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund had a strong performance of 3.87% for the month of April, bringing the annualised return since inception to 11.43%. The Fund has achieved this performance with lower annual volatility of 5.78% (Asia Pacific Index 11.83%) , to bring the Sharpe and Sortino ratio to 1.32 and 3.37 respectively. In comparison the HFR Event Driven Index closed +0.50%. The month saw significant volatility in China/ Hong Kong (H Shares) after CSRC allowed Chinese mutual funds to access Hong Kong markets which significantly impacted holding company discounts and A/H spreads. Performance was diversified across the M&A, Capital Management and Stubs sub strategies. The Fund used this opportunity to reduce their gross exposure and overall net to 210% and 15.70% respectively. Forty percent of the Fund's monthly gross exposure by strategy was in M&A followed by Capital management at 24.80%. Whereas the country exposure as percentage (%) of NAV was most in Hong Kong/China with gross of 75.50% and Japan of 36.80%. Click below to read the complete Fund Manager's Report
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Allard Investment Fund

22 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Allard Investment Fund increased 1.50% during the month of April, to bring the Fund's last twelve month performance to 27.08%.

22 May 2015 - Allard Investment Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	14 May 2015
Manager	Allard Partners Australia Pty Limited
Fund Name	Allard Investment Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	1.50%
Latest 6 Months	14.40%
Latest 12 Months	27.08%
Latest 24 Months	38.32%
Annualised Since Inception	9.98%
Inception Date	01 July 2003
FUM (millions)	AU$138
Fund Overview	Allard Partners is an absolute return, long only security investor with a single mission to provide its clients with a net compound rate of return on their capital of 15% per annum over the long term. With offices in Hong Kong, India and Australia, Allard invests in quoted companies in the Asia Pacific region. Allard's investment approach has remained consistent throughout their history. That is to invest prudently but proactively in well-managed businesses that achieve superior returns on capital in industries with long-term growth potential. The Manager uses both broad top-down guidance and detailed bottom-up analysis to identify suitable markets, industries and companies. As long only investors, a critical factor in their performance has been their preparedness to hold cash when they cannot find companies that meet their criteria or are at a sufficient discount to their valuations.
Manager Comments	Allard Investment Fund increased 1.50% during the month of April, to bring the Fund's last twelve month performance to 27.08% with a volatility of 6.34. In comparison, the ASX200 Accumulation returned 10.23% with a volatility of 11.74% The Fund portfolio was invested 75% in equities and 25% in cash and fixed income. There has been little change since the prior month, in terms of the industry and geographic breakdown of the portfolio. The Fund continues to be most exposed to Financial Services at 18.30%, Conglomerates at 10.90% and Telco's at 11.10%. The geographic breakdown was Hong Kong / China at 43.00%, Singapore 10.90% and Korea 9.70%. The top 5 holdings had 42.00% concentration of the portfolio and 16.50% in the next 5 holdings. Click below to review the latest Fund Manager's Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund April 2015

21 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Latest Fund Review now available on Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund, which has over nine years of positive track record.

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27 May 2015 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

27 May 2015 - Avenir Value Fund

26 May 2015 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund April 2015

26 May 2015 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund

25 May 2015 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund

25 May 2015 - The Paragon Fund

22 May 2015 - Hedge Clippings

Two different views of China

22 May 2015 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund

22 May 2015 - Allard Investment Fund

21 May 2015 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund April 2015

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