News
31 May 2017 - Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
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Fund Overview | The overriding objective of the Concentrated Australian Equities Fund is to seek investment opportunities which are under-appreciated and have the potential to deliver positive earnings, while satisfying our stringent quality criteria. Bennelong's investment process combines bottom-up fundamental analysis together with proprietary investment tools which are used to build and maintain high quality portfolios that are risk aware. The portfolio typically consists of 20-35 high-conviction stocks from the S&P/ASX 300 Index. The Fund may invest in securities listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities. Derivative instruments are mainly used to replicate underlying positions and hedge market and company specific risks. |
Manager Comments | More than half of the portfolio (63.5%) was allocated in the Discretionary, Health Care and Consumer Staples sectors. The Fund's top holdings consisted of Westpac Banking, National Australia Bank, CSL and Aristocrat Leisure. The investment team continues to remain focused on the company fundamentals, with an eye on value, but only in the context of what one receives in return in terms of quality and earnings delivery and growth. |
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30 May 2017 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund April 2017
INSYNC GLOBAL TITANS FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Insync Global Titans Fund.
We would like to highlight the following:
- The Fund's unit price increased by 5.2%, after the cost of protection, in April. The performance was driven by positive contributions from the Fund's holdings in PayPal, Heineken, Comcast Corp, Unilever and Microsoft Corp. There were no negative contributors during the month.
- The Global Titans Fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 15-30 stocks, targeting exceptional, large cap global companies with a strong focus on dividend growth and downside protection.
- Portfolio selection is driven by a core strategy of investing in companies with sustainable growth in dividends, high returns on capital, positive free cash flows and strong balance sheets.
- Emphasis on limiting downside risk is through extensive company research, the ability to hold cash and long protective index put options.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
29 May 2017 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund April 2017
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 8.26% p.a., compared to the MSCI ACWI Asia Pacific Price Index's return of 3.92 p.a.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
26 May 2017 - Fund Review: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund April 2017
BENNELONG TWENTY20 AUSTRALIAN EQUITIES FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund.
- The Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund invests in ASX listed stocks, combining an indexed position in the Top 20 stocks with an actively managed portfolio of stocks outside the Top 20. Construction of the ex-top 20 portfolio is fundamental, bottom-up, core investment style, biased to quality stocks, with a structured risk management approach.
- Mark East, the Fund's Chief Investment Officer, and Keith Kwang, Director of Quantitative Research have over 50 years combined market experience. Bennelong Funds Management (BFM) provides the investment manager, Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP) with infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution services.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
26 May 2017 - Insync Global Titans Fund
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Fund Overview | Insync employs four simple screens to narrow the universe of over 40,000 listed companies globally to a focus group of high quality companies that it believes have the potential to consistently grow their profits and dividends. These screens are size of the company, balance sheet performance, valuation and dividend quality. Companies that pass this due diligence process are then valued using dividend discount models, free cash flow yield and proprietary implied growth and expected return models. The end result is a high conviction portfolio of typically 15-30 stocks. The principal investments will be in shares of companies listed on international stock exchanges (including the US, Europe and Asia). The Fund may also hold cash, derivatives (for example futures, options and swaps), currency contracts, American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts. The Fund may also invest in various types of international pooled investment vehicles. At times, Insync may consider holding higher levels of cash if valuations are full and it is difficult to find attractive investment opportunities. When Insync believes markets to be overvalued, it may hold part of its resources in cash, or use derivatives as a way of reducing its equity exposure. Insync may use options, futures and other derivatives to reduce risk or gain exposure to underlying physical investments. The Fund may purchase put options on market indices or specific stocks to hedge against losses caused by declines in the prices of stocks in its portfolio. |
Manager Comments | The performance was driven by positive contributions from the holdings in PayPal, Heineken, Comcast Corp, Unilever and Microsoft Corp, with no negative contributors during the month. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside. Over 50% of the Fund is currently protected using the put protection strategy. |
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26 May 2017 - Pengana PanAgora Absolute Return Global Equities Fund
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Fund Overview | PanAgora believes the best way to find opportunities in the global markets is to combine fundamental analysis with robust quantitative techniques in order to filter the investment universe and select the investments. The Fund invests primarily in listed equity securities from a global universe of developed markets and a select group of emerging market countries. The Fund's objective is to seek absolute returns by identifying and exploiting multiple inefficiencies that may exist in global equity markets. These inefficiencies are primarily exploited through the use of a long/short equity strategy which aims to construct a portfolio that is generally neutral to market movements. As such the performance of the investment strategy is largely independent of the market's performance. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by using a diversified set of strategies that have low correlation to one another. In addition, because many of these strategies are designed to generate profit under different market conditions, their combination is expected to result in more stable returns over time than any individual strategy in and of itself. |
Manager Comments | The U.S. sleeve of the long-term portfolio detracted -1.27% from performance in large part due to the poor returns of valuation based signals during the first 3 weeks of the month. Sector-wise the biggest detraction occurred in Information Technology (-0.80%) and Consumer Discretionary (-0.50%). The positive contribution from Health Care (+0.20%) and Industrials (+0.12%), alleviated some of the underperformance. The international sleeve of the long-term portfolio contributed a marginal +0.01% in April, driven by mixed factor performance. The intermediate-term portfolio contributed a negligible +0.01% in April. The short-term strategies proved more effective with a net contribution of +0.08%, attributable primarily to earnings related trades. |
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25 May 2017 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund April 2017
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 over ten-year track record.
- The Fund has significantly outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index since its inception in May 2006 and also has significantly lower risk KPIs. The Fund has an annualised return of 11.09% p.a. with a volatility of 7.11, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 5.65% p.a. with a volatility of 13.89%.
- 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.
24 May 2017 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust April 2017
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, and Stephen Nicholls bring 100 years combined experience in equity markets.
- In April, the Fund returned +0.0.7%, to take annualised return since inception to 8.08% p.a. The Fund's approach to risk is shown by the Sharpe ratio of 1.29 (Index 0.28), Sortino ratio of 2.63 (Index 0.30, both of which are well above the ASX 200 Accumulation Index and has recorded over 78% positive months.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
24 May 2017 - Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
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Fund Overview | The portfolio is constructed using Touchstone's Quality-At-a-Reasonable-Price ('QARP') investment process. QARP is a fundamental bottom-up process, however, it also incorporates a top-down risk management framework designed to successfully manage the portfolio during varying market conditions and economic cycles. The Touchstone Fund is concentrated, typically holding between 15-20 stocks. No individual stock will ever make up more than 10% of the portfolio at any one time. The Investment Manager may temporarily exceed the exposure limits of the Fund occasionally, particularly during periods of market volatility, to allow for holdings in excess of this 10% limit where the increase in value of the underlying security is due to market movement. The Fund may also hold between 0-50% of the portfolio in cash. The Fund has a high level of associated risk, therefore, the minimum suggested investment time-frame is 5 years. |
Manager Comments | The main detractor in the month was Telstra (-9.4%), which fell after TPG Telecom announced that it planned to become Australia's 4th mobile network operator after acquiring mobile spectrum assets in a recent Government auction. Wesfarmers (-4.6%) reversed some of its recent gains after it posted weaker than expected Food and Liquor comparable store sales for the March quarter. With the current political risks elevated globally, combined with market uncertainties, the investment team remains focused on downside protection. |
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23 May 2017 - 4D Global Infrastructure Fund
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Fund Overview | The fund will be managed as a single portfolio of listed global infrastructure securities including regulated utilities in gas, electricity and water, transport infrastructure such as airports, ports, road and rail as well as communication assets such as the towers and satellite sectors. The portfolio is intended to have exposure to both developed and emerging market opportunities, with country risk assessed internally before any investment is considered. The maximum absolute position of an individual stock is 7% of the fund. |
Manager Comments | The Fund's overweight to the European and Emerging Markets was a major contributor to the April performance. The Chinese diversified infrastructure player, Shenzhen International, was the strongest performer for April, up 13% for the month. Other positive contributors included the rail operator Groupe Eurotunnel (up 11.1%), Spanish airport operator Aena (up 11.3%), and Vienna airport (up 12.9%). The weakest performer was OHL Mexico, down 12.4%. The Fund remains overweight Europe and Emerging Markets at the expense of the USA and utilities. The investment team continues to have a positive outlook for global listed infrastructure (GLI) over the medium term, due to a number of powerful macro forces that support the sector. |
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