NEWS
Lodestar Capital Partners to close at the end of June 2012
2 Apr 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Lodestar Capital Partners, a boutique fund manager part owned by NAB's nabInvest distribution arm has announced the business will close as of 30 June.
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2 Apr 2012 - Lodestar Capital Partners to close at the end of June 2012
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Sydney-based specialist Australian investment manager, Lodestar Capital Partners Pty Limited, (Lodestar) has announced that the company’s founders and principals have made the decision to close the business effective 30 June 2012.
The Lodestar Australian Strategic Shares Fund was established in March 2007 and since that time has returned an annualised -0.32%. The fund had a disappointing 2008/9 when it suffered a drawdown of -27.71% and in spite of returning 28.85% in 2009 as of February 2012 performance remained 11.53% below the high water mark reached in August 2008.
In June 2007, Lodestar announced an alliance with the National Australia Bank Limited for the distribution of Lodestar’s funds, and in September 2009 nabInvest acquired a 33% stake in Lodestar.
BT to close Total Return Fund
30 Mar 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
BT calls it a day for its Total Return Fund of Fund and advises underlying managers of redemptions.
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30 Mar 2012 - BT to close Total Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
BT Investment Management is closing its Total Return Fund after operating for over 10 years.
The Total Return fund was a multi-manager Fund of Fund which invested across a range of strategies including Equity long/short and Market Neutral, and various arbitrage strategies including Convertible Bond, Merger and Fixed Income.
FUM in the fund, which commenced on September 2000, stood at $225 million as at the end of February 2012. The Fund weathered the GFC well with a maximum drawdown of 10% against the ASX which fell over 50% during the same period.
The Fund was a strong and longstanding supporter of local hedge funds. No announcement has been made on the date of closure or future allocations.
Performance Report: KIS Asia Long Short Fund
15 Mar 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
KIS Asian Fund up 2.89% in February with long/short book generating the majority of the the return
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15 Mar 2012 - Performance Report: KIS Asia Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 1. Markets change and evolve, constantly stressing quantitative models. They believe their discretionary approach to portfolio management is the most appropriate manner to manage their wealth and their client's wealth. 2. Their platform and mandate allows them to achieve the scale, access and diversification needed to deliver high quality risk adjusted returns. 3. They believe, 'To achieve superior investment results, your insight into value has to be superior. Thus you must learn things others don't, see things differently or do a better job of analysing them -ideally, all three.' Howard Marks, Founder, Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree Capital Management is a global investment management corporation with USD82b of assets under management). |
| Manager Comments | KIS remain wary of the downside risks caused by the ongoing repercussions from the Greek debt restructuring as well as potential for further tensions between Israel and Iran. However, in the absence of these the manager expects equity markets to continue to perform, although probably not as strongly as in the first two months of the year. In this environment KIS believe that as the macro issues subside, stock-picking will be rewarded which will benefit the Fund's investment process, although they will reduce risk again if this does not eventuate. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
9 Mar 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia up 1.03% in February to steer clear of reporting season risks of crowded long and short situations
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9 Mar 2012 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | February 2012 was another example of just that danger according to Optimal, with those heavily-shorted ‘victim’ stocks (cyclical industrials with structural issues - e.g. retail and media) producing the most spectacular re-ratings, as bad earnings news was discounted, and was just not bad enough to provoke anything other than violent short-covering rallies. Optimal noted that statistically the earnings were balanced, with 35% of results ahead of estimates, and 35% missing them, with dividends missing estimates overall. Looking forward the manager believes that future earnings estimates for the ASX200 in FY2013 at 13% growth look ambitious, while those for 2012 are little changed at around 3%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: Regal Amazon Market Neutral Fund
8 Mar 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Regal's Amazon offshore market neutral fund returns 0.19% in February as gains on Australian positions partially offset by a small loss in the Asian portfolio
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8 Mar 2012 - Performance Report: Regal Amazon Market Neutral Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Regal noted that the rise in the Australian market in February hid a large dispersion in individual stock returns, with 67 stocks in the ASX S&P 300 Index up by 10% or more, after investors had in many cases been overly pessimistic. The best performing sectors sectors for the fund were Consumer Discretionary and Industrials, while positions in Energy and Health Care detracted from performance. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: Mathews Velocity Fund
1 Mar 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Mathews Velocity Fund returns 7.27% in January 2012 aided by the general tailwind provided by the market.
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1 Mar 2012 - Performance Report: Mathews Velocity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Manager does not target a specific investment style. The Manager's investment strategy is based on attempting to pick emerging trends in the equity and commodity markets. |
| Manager Comments | Hedging positions although reduced in January mitigated performance, with top 4 detractors SPI, Merrill Lynch Mining Basket, Euro Stoxx50 & S&P500 Futures. The high relative volatility reflects the Fund's concentration - a key part of the investment strategy. At the end of January the Top 5 equity positions accounted for 43% of Net Assets and the Top 10 for 67%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
29 Feb 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Aurora Fortitude Long/Short, M&A, Convergence and Yield strategies all contributed in January, while reduced volatility saw the Option overlay book struggle
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29 Feb 2012 - Performance Report: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | With the exception of the Options overlay book which suffered with volatility reducing as the market rose, all four strategies posted gains to varying degrees,contributing to the month's positive performance. Looking forward the Manager anticipates that the February reporting season should present several opportunities as stock specific factors override the macro environment. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: Supervised High Yield Fund
28 Feb 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Supervised's High Yield Fund provides strong returns in January as the market re-rated the Australian Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) sector
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28 Feb 2012 - Performance Report: Supervised High Yield Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 | Supervised anticipates that over the next six months Australian banks will be coming to the market with large borrowing requirements which should underpin credit margins at current levels and create opportunities for ongoing good returns in A$ credit markets. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: KIS Asia Long Short Fund
23 Feb 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
KIS Asia returns 2.33% in January 2012 with the Long Short portfolio responsible for all the returns as investors put 2011 behind them.
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23 Feb 2012 - Performance Report: KIS Asia Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 1. Markets change and evolve, constantly stressing quantitative models. They believe their discretionary approach to portfolio management is the most appropriate manner to manage their wealth and their client's wealth. 2. Their platform and mandate allows them to achieve the scale, access and diversification needed to deliver high quality risk adjusted returns. 3. They believe, \'To achieve superior investment results, your insight into value has to be superior. Thus you must learn things others don't, see things differently or do a better job of analysing them -ideally, all three.\' Howard Marks, Founder, Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree Capital Management is a global investment management corporation with USD82b of assets under management). |
| Manager Comments | The Long/Short portfolio was responsible for all the month's return with both long (Azimuth Resources, Sims Metal and ABM Resources) and short (Atlas Iron) positions contributing. Portfolio Hedge, Convertible Bond and Equity Arbitrage portfolios did not make a significant contribution, while special situations were mixed to contribute a total of +0.17%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
15 Feb 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia return +1.51% in January, but remain cautious as equity markets remain dysfunctional
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15 Feb 2012 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | Optimal continue to describe the market as dysfunctional, with sharp rallies on thin volumes meaning investors must either prepare for the bounce, or struggle to chase it. In spite of the unpredictability of markets since inception in September 2008, the fund has only suffered 3 negative months. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
