Antipodean Capital's Volatility Arbitrage Strategy returned +3.82% for November, bringing their YTD performance to +13.68% and their annualised return since inception (December 2007) to +24.54%.

This result was attributed to positive returns in the fund's equity and FX derivatives strategies. Antipodean's CTA Strategy also posted a positive result for November (+1.21%), while their $A Currency Strategy returned a small loss of -0.11%.

Although too early to say definitively, it is hoped that direct repercussions (i.e., Investments) by Australian hedge funds, fund of funds and other local investors in former US "Investment Guru" Madoff's so called "Ponzi" scheme will be minimal.

As of 15th December, two local Fund of Funds, Everest, and Select/Gottex have categorically denied having any investment or exposure to Madoff's extraordinary US$50 billion fraud.

However, there is no doubt that further confidence will be eroded in the eyes of ordinary investors in the top end of town, with this scam following on a series of disasters involving both overseas and local former high flying names.

Equally expect the surveillance of unregulated funds (a greater issue in the US than Australia) by the authorities to increase significantly.

Macquarie has written to investors with the news that as of 28th November, redemptions in their Equinox Series Fund of Funds have been suspended until further notice. Redemptions for 31 October will be processed, but all others, including those for November 28th, are included in the suspension.

Macquarie's letter to Equinox shareholders cited difficult (but now well known) issues affecting underlying managers, who themselves have been limiting or freezing redemptions. This poses a major issue for the Fund of Funds model with liquidity dependent on underlying assets which are themselves illiquid.

As a result there is, and will continue to be, a "cascade" effect as investors seek liquid assets, which in themselves are becoming an increasingly rare commodity.

Macquarie also noted other reasons for the problem, including falling interest rates damaging the mechanism for capital protection, and a falling Australian dollar affecting the value of predominantly US$ underlying investments, as well as impacting the A$/US$ currency hedges employed. Finally, the portfolio employed leverage between 10% and 20% of NAV, and this loan facility had been withdrawn and in current conditions was unable to be replaced.

Absolute Return funds surveyed by Australian Fund Monitors (AFM) that have reported November results indicates it was a
much improved month for the industry with quite diverse results. To date the average return for the month is negative 2.51% with 37% of funds in AFM's database having reported.

The best performing strategies have again been non equity based (i.e. Global Macro, Commodities, Currencies and
Managed Futures). Equity based strategies have suffered less than in September and October, significantly outperforming
the S&P/ASX200 Accumulation Index and the S&P500 Total Return Index which fell 6.20% and 7.18% respectively for the
month.

Click the link below for the full report.

SHC's Ailsa Fund reported a gain of +2.53% in November, bringing its YTD return to -5.13%.

The 3 month return on the Ailsa Fund was -2.1%, compared to the S&P/ASX200, which returned -26.7% over the same period. SHC retains a positive view on global equity markets in 2009, although the real economy may still have some way to fall.

Attunga Capital's managed futures and multi-strategy funds reported both positive and negative returns for November.

Attunga's managed futures funds, the Enviro Opportunities Fund (EOF) and the Power & Enviro (Offshore) Fund (PEOF), reported returns of -1.04% and -1.10% respectively for November, while their multi-strategy Agricultural Trading Fund (ATF) returned +1.29%. Positive performance in the ATF was attributed to calendar spreads in soybean oil, corn and soybeans, which offset losses on market spreads in wheat markets. The EOF and PEOF, which are both mainly invested in Australian electricity assets, are looking ahead to the release of the Australian Government's emission trading scheme proposal in mid December, which will impact their power and emission markets.

Tactical Global Management (TGA)'s GTAA AUD Fund was up +4.50% for November, bringing their YTD performance to -0.38%.

TGM attributed this result to their investment strategies in global equities (long European and UK, short US and Australian) and fixed interest (long US, short Japanese), while at the same time having no exposures in global currencies or at broad asset-class levels.

MM&E Capital Takeover Target Fund was down 7.80% during November bringing the year-to-date cumulative performance to a loss of 31.66%.

The Manager commented: "November was another difficult month for equity markets, and the Fund lost value in line with the performance of the benchmark ASX 300 Index. Stop losses were applied throughout the month, with positions falling 20% from entry price being automatically exited."

The Fund uses an event driven strategy where medium term (6-24 months) positions are taken in ASX listed stocks that meet the internal selection criteria.

BlackRock’s Asset Allocation Alpha Fund achieved a gain of 6.59% for the month bringing the year-to-date cumulative performance to positive 38.91%.

The Fund employs a global macro strategy and tactical asset allocation. The strategies adopted are thematic, concentrating on exploiting trends, likely developments and mis-pricing in global asset markets.

The Manager noted: “The strategies which contributed significantly to performance were Bond/Cash (primarily reflecting long duration positions in the UK, US, Germany and Australia); Currency (long Euro vs Polish Zloty, short Euro vs Japanese Yen, short Australian dollar and Canadian dollar vs US dollar); and to a lesser extent Equity/Equity (reflecting long US Growth vs US Value and long US large cap vs US small cap).”

Wilson Asset Management (WAM) reported negative performance in both their multi-strategy ASX-listed Active Fund (WAA) and their equity long/short Capital Fund (WAM). WAA returned a loss of 5.23% for November bringing the year-to-date cumulative performance to negative 12.62% while WAM returned a loss of 5.65% bringing the year-to-date cumulative performance to negative 34.21%.

WAA predominantly invests in ASX listed securities and Cash where appropriate investments cannot be identified. During November the Manager maintained of holding of approximately 80% of funds in cash. WAA offers investors exposure to an active trading style with the aim of achieving a sound return with a low correlation to traditional markets. The Manager noted: “This was achieved in our first eleven months with the Fund outperforming the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index by 27.8%.

WAM invests in ASX listed securities and employs an investment strategy which focuses on, but is not limited to, medium to small industrial companies, as well as under-researched and mis-priced stocks. The manager sees market opportunities through buying securities in entities through IPOs, placements or the purchase of block stock below what the manager believes is fair value. Acceptable diversification is achieved by investing in 20 to 30 securities over a range of industry sectors.