NEWS
31 Jul 2014 - Forager Australian Shares Fund
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Manager Comments | The economic outlook in Australia, however, remains a concern. The boom in new mining investment has now clearly come to an end but, as the chart below shows, the impact on the economy has been cushioned so far by the completion of old projects. The contribution of business investment to gross domestic product (GDP), currently at record highs, is set to fall heavily. Investment from the last decade ensures Australia will export record tonnes of ore, but unlike investment and construction, the additional benefits to the wider economy are limited. So what does this mean for the portfolio? Luckily value investors do not have to play fair (the idea is pretty much to play as unfairly as possible) so the Fund can cherry pick areas it likes and avoid other ones entirely. It has been a theme for the past five years, but we are still focused on finding foreign currency exposure on the ASX. The trends highlighted above are likely to force the Australian dollar, which has appreciated 5% to US$0.943 this year, lower long term. The full text of the Fund's quarterly report is on the AFM website under the Fund's profile. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
31 Jul 2014 - Alternative Investments Conference
ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS CONFERENCE
14-15 August 2014 at the Grace Hotel, Sydney
Investigating the rise and rise of non-traditional high yield and low risk investment products, strategies and allocation in an era of prolonged volatility and low returns. Conference topics include:
- Global Economic Trends and Future Outlook
- Asset Allocation portfolio strategies
- Institutional Investors perspectives on alternative investment
- A retail perspective in allocating to alternatives
- Partnership alignment and manager selection
- Regulatory, compliance and reporting requirements
- Hedge fund investment options and opportunities
- Investment timing indexes
- Alternative fixed interest as a ?better source of risk premium?
- Strategic allocation of commodities
- Infrastructure asset portfolio design and global opportunity
- The rise and rise of Impact Investing
- Understanding the True Scope of Private Equity Investing
- Tapping into the world of Niche Alternatives
Dates: 14th-15th August 2014
Time: 8:30am - 5:30pm
Location: Grace Hotel, Sydney
Click here to view the Agenda and for more information on the event.
To register for the conference please download the brochure and fax the form to us or you can email us on [email protected] or give us a call:
Registrations Manager
IBR Conferences Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 (0) 2 9896 0776 | Fax: +61 (0) 2 9896 0796 | [email protected] | http://www.ibrc.com.au
30 Jul 2014 - Chris Gosselin on Switzer TV
In this Switzer TV interview on Monday 28 July 2014, Chris discusses:
- 6-12 month performance of Australian hedge funds.
- New product release - Prism Select portal.
- Prism Select has launched with comprehensive information and performance on a range of 14 boutique funds, enabling investors to compare and research each one, while also providing a new online application tool that revolutionises the currently confusing and time consuming paper based process of applying for managed funds.
- Prism Select also provides access to each fund's offer documents and application forms through OLIVIA123, an online application service developed by AFM which provides a customised and interactive application form for each fund, reducing the time and frustration often experienced by investors when completing paper based application forms, and cutting the errors and omissions which often delay the processing of their applications.
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OLIVIA123 consists of three modules - Data Collection, Identity Verification (AML&KYC), and Online Execution - assisting fund managers and their administrators by reducing the time and costs of processing paper based applications, including compliance with new anti-money laundering legislation.
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OLIVIA123's online, interactive system is estimated to cut the time taken to complete and process a paper based application by up to 70 per cent.
Click here to view the TV Interview.
Chris Gosselin has been in the financial markets since 1986, initially in equities broking in Sydney and Melbourne prior to focussing on information distribution. He has been in the hedge fund sector since 2003, and established Australian Fund Monitors in 2006. Australian Fund Monitors provides a range of research services including due diligence, analytics and fund rankings, servicing both local and offshore investors.
30 Jul 2014 - 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 | Suffice it to say we still believe that globally long dated bonds do not offer value, money on deposit is a waste of opportunity, credit spreads are too tight to reflect normal default risk and equity volatility cannot remain this low forever. These are all observations of markets that have been strongly influenced by the liquidity that has been put into markets by various central banks. These are asset classes you can easily lose money on in tightening liquidity conditions. More importantly, our view is that these assets are now so artificially priced you are unlikely to make a decent return even if central banks keep the liquidity tap on. On the subject of when will the liquidity tap be closed; as inflationary signs begin to appear in wages and consumer price indices the various central banks will be forced to reduce the flow of money. We watch carefully for a tick up in these barometers. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
29 Jul 2014 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
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Fund Overview | 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 | Over the year the Fund had a positive return for each month with a minimum monthly return of 0.37% generated in August of 2013 and a maximum monthly return of 3.47% achieved in July of 2013. There were three months in which the Fund returned greater than 1% but only one month in which the returns were less than 0.5%. At month-end Fund largest exposures were 64% RMBS and 17% Corporate Bonds with Cash at 3%. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
28 Jul 2014 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund May 2014
MORPHIC GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND
AFM has updated the Fund Review on the Morphic Global Opportunities Fund.
Key points include:
- The Fund is a global equity long/short manager with a long bias and a macro-economic overlay. The mandate allows the Fund to short sell, use derivatives and invest in assets such as commodities & currencies.
- Portfolio construction is stock selection agnostic with a bias to value based and momentum strategies. Risk management is a primary consideration in portfolio construction and the strong emphasis on risk is evidenced by the Fund's since inception annualised standard deviation of 9.19% (9.74% ASX 200 Accum Index), maximum drawdown of 4.93% (6.72% Index) and downside deviation of 2.90 (5.15 Index).
- The Fund had a net exposure of 101% and a gross exposure of 132% at May month-end with a VAR of 1.05%.
- Morphic's philosophy is that only funds with flexible investment and hedging strategies will be able to deliver acceptable, steady, real, absolute returns over the investment cycle.
- The Fund is an early stage, boutique, Sydney-based fund established in 2012 with experienced CIO's, and an investment team of 6 including a risk manager.
- The Board has a majority of independent members with significant risk and investment experience.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sean Webster
Research Manager
28 Jul 2014 - Cor Capital Fund
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Fund Overview | The Cor Capital Fund is a Multi- Asset Fund which combines a pre-determined strategic asset allocation with active but systemised rebalancing to generate returns and manage volatility whilst maintaining transparency and liquidity. The Fund strategy is not reliant on accurate market predictions, forecasts or timing for success. Returns are generated in a number of ways; 1) by maintaining sufficiently large positions in a diverse group of asset classes, 2) via the 'volatility harvesting' consequences of active rebalancing, and 3) from the offsetting behaviour of certain asset classes under specific conditions. The combined portfolio is expected to exhibit relatively low volatility and low turnover. In the interests of avoiding complexity, maintaining liquidity, and minimising reliance on third parties, the Fund strategy does not employ gearing, derivatives or short-selling. |
Manager Comments | The Manager regularly rebalances funds away from 'popular' assets and markets, and towards the less popular. The Fund benefitted during June by recent additions to gold bullion with the precious metal up 3.58% (in AUD terms) over the month. This represented the major contribution to monthly performance (+0.83%) with a negative contribution from equities (-0.41%) more than offsetting bonds (+0.20%) and cash (+0.12%). |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
25 Jul 2014 - Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund focuses on fundamental long and short investments. The Fund may utilise a multi-strategy approach if short term opportunities to increase returns, hedge the portfolio, protect capital or minimise volatility are found. The Fund is a high conviction fund and the combined portfolio will typically have 25-45 positions, investing primarily in stocks in the ASX200. The Fund may be net long, short or neutral depending on the strategies employed at the time. The Fund may hold cash so that it is in a position to take advantage of market volatility and compelling investment opportunities as and when they arise. The Fund may be geared up to 200% gross long or short and up to 150% net long or short. |
Manager Comments | The Sharpe ratio was 5.58 with the Up and Down Capture ratio 1.55 and -1.00 respectively. The fund had no negative months over the last year. Average gross capital employed by the Fund was 147.1% long and 31.7% short and average net exposure over the month was +115.5%. At the end of the month the Fund had 37 long positions and 7 short positions. The Manager's monthly Newsletter is entitled 'Distinguishing Risk From Volatility' and is available on the AFM website. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
24 Jul 2014 - Fund Review: Monash Absolute Investment Fund June 2014
24 Jul 2014 - Supervised High Yield Fund
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Fund Overview | The fund will invest in all forms of marketable floating and fixed income debt securities, such as asset backed debt securities, residential mortgage backed securities, corporate debt, regional and sovereign debt securities, debt/equity hybrid securities, equities and currencies. All these investments will be either listed or traded in a market where prices can be independently verified. The fund may also invest in interest rate swaps, options over authorised investments and exchange traded futures contracts. All these will be either listed or traded in a market where they can be independently valued. |
Manager Comments | The Fund had a Sharpe ratio of 5.89% and 100% positive months and a zero drawdown over the year. |
More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |