Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust December 2015

20 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

Read the latest Fund Review on Optimal Australian Absolute Trust Fund.

Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund

20 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund rose 0.72% for the month, outperforming the HFR Event Driven Index which closed down -0.9%, by 1.62%.

20 Jan 2016 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	15 January 2016
Manager	Pengana Capital
Fund Name	Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	0.72%
Latest 6 Months	0.05%
Latest 12 Months	4.67%
Latest 24 Months	11.16%
Annualised Since Inception	10.12%
Inception Date	01 September 2010
FUM (millions)	AU$96.7
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	The Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund rose 0.72% for the month, outperforming the HFR Event Driven Index which closed down -0.9%, by 1.62%. The Asia Pacific markets also fell 3.4%. Since inception, the Fund has an annualised return of 10.12% p.a., and achieved this with low volatility of 6.16%. The M&A sub-strategy contributed 1.4% to Fund performance as spreads generally contracted in most deals during the month. The Fund also positively benefited from the offer in Interplex Holdings (INTX SP) received from Baring Asia. The Fund had positioned long on expectations of this offer after several months of due diligence on the company. The Fund's average gross and net exposures were 197.4% and 6.6% respectively. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

19 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

Morphic Global Opportunities Fund returned -2.48% in December to bring latest 12 month return to 9.08%.

19 Jan 2016 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	15 January 2016
Manager	Morphic Asset Management
Fund Name	Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	-2.48%
Latest 6 Months	-1.52%
Latest 12 Months	9.08%
Latest 24 Months	24.34%
Annualised Since Inception	21.71%
Inception Date	02 August 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$125
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 returned -2.48% in December, underperforming its benchmark (MSCI AC World Total Return in Australian Dollars), which fell 2.20%, by 0.27%. The Fund has an annualised return since inception of 21.71% p.a., with notable Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 2.02 and 4.48 respectively. The Fund's underperformance over the month was mostly due to the ECB disappointment, which saw the Fund lose on an overweight position in European stocks and take a further hit on their currency hedging over the Euro. The best contributor was a market neutral trade. The short legs delivered the majority of the profit as Waddell & Reed and Franklin Resources fell heavily on concerns about fund flows. An unhedged short position against emerging markets focused fund manager Aberdeen also did well. Three banking sector trades also made solid contributions. The Fund began January fully invested but early month jitters cause the Fund to raise cash. Click below to read more.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund December 2015

19 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

December Fund Review now available on Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund which has over 13 years track record & annualised return of 18.58% p.a.

Fund Review: Meme Australian Share Fund December 2015

18 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

December Fund Review is now available on Meme Australian Share Fund, that invests in ASX listed securities outside of the S&P/ASX20.

Signature Quantitative Fund

18 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

Signature Quantitative Fund rose 2.50% for the month of December, to bring annualised performance since inception to 10.40% p.a.

18 Jan 2016 - Signature Quantitative Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	14 January 2016
Manager	Quant Investment Management Services Pty Ltd
Fund Name	Signature Quantitative Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	2.50%
Latest 6 Months	7.92%
Latest 12 Months	-0.03%
Latest 24 Months	21.89%
Annualised Since Inception	10.40%
Inception Date	01 January 2014
FUM (millions)	AU$24
Fund Overview	SQF is a systematic event-driven fund that exploits short-term structural market inefficiencies that are uncorrelated & persistent over time. The fund believes that the market reaction to events is not random; rather there are statistically measureable and predictable behaviour patterns that can be exploited with a systematic and disciplined approach. The fund's investment philosophy is to quantitatively identify research and exploit these event driven or behavioural structural market inefficiencies to generate significant alpha. SQF systematically utilises stock short positions and futures to reduce risk and generate significant alpha SQF has been established to profit from anomalies surrounding event driven, behavioural & factor based structural market inefficiencies which generate significant profits and are uncorrelated & persistent over time. Specific strategies such as dividend arbitrage, index addition and deletion, tax year end, capital raisings, among other strategies are used by the Fund. The Fund's initial focus is on investing in Australian and New Zealand markets.
Manager Comments	Signature Quantitative Fund rose 2.50% for the month of December, to bring annualised performance since inception to 10.40% p.a. In comparison, the ASX200 Accumulation Index has an annualised returned of 2.73% p.a. The Fund has achieved this return with lower volatility of 8.06 than the Index (12.89%). All strategies contributed to performance this month. Alpha Capture and the Dividend Arbitrage strategies performed strongly, driven by short resources exposure and the Dividend Arbitrage Effect continuing to perform. The Index Rebalance Strategy contributed to performance this month across the ASX 200 and various global indices. The Fund had a net exposure of 49%, of which 21% exposure was in the Financial sector. Click the link below to view the latest Monthly Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Totus Alpha Fund

15 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

Totus Alpha Fund rose 4.5% net of fees in December taking the latest 12 month return to 53.40%.

15 Jan 2016 - Totus Alpha Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	13 January 2016
Manager	Totus Capital
Fund Name	Totus Alpha Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	4.50%
Latest 6 Months	39.72%
Latest 12 Months	53.40%
Latest 24 Months	73.11%
Annualised Since Inception	32.63%
Inception Date	01 April 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$61
Fund Overview	The Totus Alpha Fund aims to maximise returns for investors through fundamental industry and company research and active portfolio management. The investment strategy is based on identifying medium to long term structural investment themes and seek absolute returns by investing in securities that have concentrated exposure to those themes. The Fund is a long/short investment fund principally investing in listed entities, commodities, futures and options in Australia and internationally. The Fund is not a market neutral fund and accordingly may switch between net long positions and net short positions. The Fund may use short sales and derivatives. Gearing may be used to enhance returns and the Fund may be geared in excess of 100% of the Fund's Net Asset Value. There is a limit to net exposure of 150%.
Manager Comments	Totus Alpha Fund units rose 4.5% net of fees in December taking the latest 12 month return to 53.40%. Since inception, the Fund has an annualised of 32.63% p.a, with a volatility of 14.12% p.a., to give notable Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 1.86 (Index 0.61) and 5.51 (Index 0.87) respectively. This annualised performance has been delivered with a beta of -0.0402 and correlation of -0.0345 to the ASX300 Accumulation Index. At month-end, the fund had a net exposure of -4.8% and a gross exposure of 270.1%. The Fund had 129 positions (55 long and 74 short) that were diversified across multiple investment themes. Top contributors in December were the long positions in SmartGroup +2.81% (Scarce Growth) and Blackmores +0.62% (Scarce Growth). A short position in Spotless added 2.01% (Earnings Risk). Biggest detractors were the short positions in Orocobre -1.00% (Commodities), Valeant -0.55% (Rollup) and 1-Page -0.37% (Unicorn). Click below to read the latest Fund's Monthly Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

15 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose 1.74%, for the month of December.

15 Jan 2016 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	12 January 2016
Manager	Kardinia Capital, a Bennelong Funds Management boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	1.74%
Latest 6 Months	6.52%
Latest 12 Months	9.61%
Latest 24 Months	15.93%
Annualised Since Inception	12.74%
Inception Date	01 May 2006
FUM (millions)	AU$270.405
Fund Overview	The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 20 to 50 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. On average since inception the Fund's exposure has averaged 40% net long. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks on the long side of the portfolio, although in a rising market the portfolio will tend to hold smaller caps, including resource stocks, more frequently. On the short side, the portfolio is particularly concentrated, with stock selection limited by both liquidity and the difficulty of borrowing stock in smaller cap companies. Short positions are only taken when there is a high conviction view on the specific stock. The Fund uses derivatives in a limited way, mainly selling short dated covered call options to generate additional income. These typically have less than 30 days to expiry, and are usually 5% to 10% out of the money. ASX SPI futures and index put options can be used to hedge the portfolio's overall net position. The Fund's discretionary investment strategy commences with a macro view of the economy and direction to establish the portfolio's desired market exposure. Following this detailed sector and company research is gathered from knowledge of the individual stocks in the Fund's universe, with widespread use of broker research. Company visits, presentations and discussions with management at CEO and CFO level are used wherever possible to assess management quality across a range of criteria. Detailed analysis of company valuations using financial statements and forecasts, particularly focusing on free cash flow, is conducted. Technical analysis is used to validate the Manager's fundamental research and valuations and to manage market timing. A significant portion of the Fund's overall performance can be attributed to the attention and importance given to the macro economic outlook and the ability and willingness to adjust the Fund's market risk.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose 1.74% for the month of December, vs. the ASX200 Accumulation Index, which returned 2.73%. Since inception in May 2006, the Fund has an annualised performance of 12.74% p.a, compared to the Index's 4.61% p.a. The Fund has achieved this performance with lower volatility of 7.26% than that of the Index (14.29%), to give notable Sharpe and Sortino ratio of 1.12 (Index 0.08) and 2.15 (Index 0.04) respectively. Long positions in Blackmores, BWX and Aristocrat were the major positive contributors to performance, whilst long positions in Temple and Webster and Surfstitch were the largest detractors. Net equity market exposure was actively managed throughout the month with a month-end net of 65.2% (68.1% long and 2.8% short). Click below to read the December 2015 Fund Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

14 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

Optimal Australia Absolute Trust recorded net return of -0.1% to bring the year 2015 to +8.05%.

14 Jan 2016 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	11 January 2016
Manager	Optimal Fund Management Australia
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	-0.10%
Latest 6 Months	6.06%
Latest 12 Months	8.05%
Latest 24 Months	11.54%
Annualised Since Inception	9.07%
Inception Date	15 September 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$100
Fund Overview	The investment objective of the Fund is to seek to achieve above average returns in absolute terms, through investing in listed securities in Australia and New Zealand, subject to the overarching requirement of capital preservation. Investments will predominantly be in equity securities but may include fixed interest instruments, money market instruments, derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. 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 Australia Absolute Trust recorded net return of -0.1% to bring the year 2015 to +8.05%. In comparison, the ASX Accumulation Index returned 2.56% for the year. Since inception, the Fund has an annualised return of 9.07% p.a. (Index 5.05% p.a.), which has been achieved with relatively low volatility of 3.65% p.a. (Index 14.55% p.a). The Fund's shorts produced negative attribution of 0.9% for the month. The long positions had positive attribution of 0.8%. The rally in the Australian market from mid-December allowed the Fund to realise some long investments at attractive prices and to increase short position. As a result, the Fund came into 2016 with net short exposure at 11% of NAV. This risk setting has served the fund well against January's initial carnage, but our lack of beta exposure was a heavy drag on performance in December Click below to read the latest Fund Monthly Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

The Paragon Fund

13 Jan 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Paragon Fund returned 0.3% for the month of December, to take latest 12 month return to 16.44%.

13 Jan 2016 - The Paragon Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	11 January 2016
Manager	Paragon Funds Management
Fund Name	The Paragon Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	December 2015
Latest Return	0.30%
Latest 6 Months	7.08%
Latest 12 Months	16.44%
Latest 24 Months	34.93%
Annualised Since Inception	18.07%
Inception Date	28 February 2013
FUM (millions)	AU$36.3
Fund Overview	The Paragon Fund is a concentrated long/short Australian equities product that is fundamentally driven with a focus on the industrial and resource sectors. Paragon's own research process and active portfolio management is overlaid with risk management and an overarching focus on capital preservation. Paragon believes that markets are not always efficient, exhibiting a common tendency to price securities well outside of their intrinsic value over the medium term. This market characteristic provides the opportunity for Paragon, an active manager with a flexible mandate, to generate superior investment returns over the longer term. Paragon believes that it is critical to understand both the companies and the industries in which they operate, in order to fully comprehend each investment opportunity. Accordingly, a fundamental approach to company research is taken. Assessing the potential downside is also paramount in framing the risk/reward trade-off for potential investments.
Manager Comments	The Paragon Fund returned 0.3% for the month of December, to take latest 12 month return to 16.44%. Since inception the Fund has an annualised return of 18.07% p.a. vs the market (ASX Accumulation Index) 5.90% p.a. The Fund has a notable Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 1.35 (Index 0.27) and 2.65 (Index 0.39) respectively. Key positive contributors for December included Longs in the Lithium holdings (Orocobre & General Mining), Mayne Pharma and APN Outdoor, offset by declines in Oil Search, Reward Minerals and a short position in Wesfarmers. At the end of the month the Fund had 34 long positions and 13 short positions. Click below to read the latest monthly report
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Fund Monitors Pty Ltd

News

20 Jan 2016 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust December 2015

OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE TRUST

20 Jan 2016 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund

19 Jan 2016 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

19 Jan 2016 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund December 2015

18 Jan 2016 - Fund Review: Meme Australian Share Fund December 2015

18 Jan 2016 - Signature Quantitative Fund

15 Jan 2016 - Totus Alpha Fund

15 Jan 2016 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

14 Jan 2016 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

13 Jan 2016 - The Paragon Fund

Funds Found

Featured Fund