News
Supervised High Yield Fund
5 Aug 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Supervised High Yield Fund rose 0.21% in market conditions, which were marked by high levels of uncertainty and volatile debt and equity markets.
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5 Aug 2015 - Supervised High Yield Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The fund may also invest in interest rate swaps, options over authorized investments and exchange traded futures contracts. All these will be either listed or traded in a market where they can be independently valued. Fundamental to the investment procedure is the tenet that no debt security will qualify for investment unless it can repay 100% of its principal and interest in a worst case economic scenario. |
| Manager Comments | More than half of the portfolio's composition was in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) at 65.50%. The rest of the portfolio was divided in the following sectors: US Corporate Loans at 21.70%, Cash at 8.70% and AUD Corporate Loans at 4.10%. Click below to view the latest Fund Manager Report. |
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Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
4 Aug 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 0.64% for the month of June, to bring its annual performance since inception to 18.79% per annum.
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4 Aug 2015 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 | For the quarter, the Fund delivered 1.83% and over the past 12 months 7.92%. The monthly returns for the past year have ranged from 0.51% to 0.84%. In June, majority of the Fund's portfolio composition was in Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) at 67% and Short-dated loans at 21%. Click on the link below to read the latest Fund Manager's Report. |
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Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund June 2015
3 Aug 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest fund review now available on the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund, which has one of the most risk averse Key Performance Statistics of any fund in AFM's database.
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3 Aug 2015 - Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund June 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AURORA FORTITUDE ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- The Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund (AFARF) has a 10 year track record investing in ASX listed equities. A Market Neutral overlay is used across a multi strategy approach which allows for flexible asset allocation to maximise returns and minimise risk under a variety of market conditions and cycles.CIO John Corr has over 20 years financial market experience with a strong focus on risk.
- Significant use of low risk "long" derivatives and option overlays has provided positive returns with low volatility during periods of market dislocation. Risk statistics are impressive and shows the Funds risk philosophy; over 85% of monthly performances have been positive with no losing months in 2008, the Fund's largest drawdown is -2.09% and the Sharpe ratio 1.06.
- ASX listed Aurora Funds Limited was established on the merger of three existing fund management businesses, managing approx. $230m on behalf of more than 2,500 retail and wholesale investors.
Insync Global Titans Fund
31 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
In June, the Insync Global Titans Fund outperformed its benchmark MSCI All Country World ex-Australia Net Total Return Index ($A) by 0.50%.
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31 Jul 2015 - Insync Global Titans Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 Fund's performance was driven by positive contributions from holdings in Comcast, Disney and Baxter. The main negative contributors were Oracle, Nestle and Microsoft. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync considers the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager Report. |
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Fund Review: Totus Alpha Fund June 2015
30 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
June Fund Review with key statistics for Totus Alpha Fund now available.
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30 Jul 2015 - Fund Review: Totus Alpha Fund June 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: June 2015 (pdf format)
TOTUS ALPHA FUND
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- Totus Capital is a Sydney based long short fund manager established in 2012 by Ben McGarry which aims to place equal emphasis on performance and capital preservation. The Fund invests mainly in Australia, but also in other developed economies, with a primary exposure to equity markets.
- The Totus Alpha Fund's investment strategy is to identify structural themes, and then seek to drive performance by investing in securities that have concentrated exposure to those themes. Single stock short positions are used to generate alpha, frequently in under researched parts of the market such as the small and mid-cap space. Index derivatives are used to hedge the portfolio's market risk.
- McGarry qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PWC in 1999 and has 14 years market experience, commencing his career covering European building materials and construction sectors at Morgan Stanley in London. Previous experience included analytical roles at Ausbil, a Sydney based $10bn+ long-only manager, and sell side emerging companies experience at UBS. McGarry's emerging company research with UBS included exposure to a range of sectors including energy, materials, industrials, tech, financials, retail and telecommunications.
- The Fund has delivered an annalised return of 24.97% since inception in March 2012 as compared to 12.14% for the ASX 200 Accumulation Index. The standard deviation has been higher than the Index at 13.44% as compared to 11.48% and the Sharpe ratio is 1.53.
Fund Review: June 2015 (pdf format)
Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
29 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
In a volatile month, the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund returned 0.17%, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by 5.47%.
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29 Jul 2015 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce positive returns irrespective of the direction of the share market. For each investment the manager considers the risk, the timeline of that risk occurring and then the potential return. Low transaction costs and liquidity are other important factors in the success and implementation of the strategies. |
| Manager Comments | It was the Option (+0.68%) and Convergence Trading (+0.14%) strategies that provided positive contribution to the portfolio. Positions in the banking sector were the dominant contributors. However the reverse of this banking prices actively impacted the Yield strategy (-0.53%) and become the largest detractor for the month. The Mergers and Acquisitions and Long/Short Trading strategies were flat for the month. Click below to read the latest monthly commentary and market outlook. |
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Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund June 2015
29 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review now available on Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund, which has over 6 years of track record and annualised return of 10.90% p.a.
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29 Jul 2015 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund June 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: June 2015 (pdf format)
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 10.90% p.a., compared to the AFM's Asia Pacific Index of 6.67%. The Fund has achieved this with lower volatility of 5.85% (Index 11.75%).
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Fund Review: June 2015 (pdf format)
Cor Capital Fund
28 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
During June the Cor Capital Fund returned -2.29% bringing the 12-month return to 4.77%, outperforming the RBA Cash Rate Index by 2.42%.
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28 Jul 2015 - Cor Capital Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 portfolio's equities position detracted from June returns as the ASX200 accumulation index retreated 5.3%. Gold (-2%) and bonds (-0.9%) were also negative during June although the Manager notes that the largest contribution to the Fund's 12 month return was gold (+9.5%). Click below to read the Fund's latest quarterly report. |
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Avenir Value Fund
28 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Avenir Value Fund outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index (-5.30%) in June by 0.90%.
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28 Jul 2015 - Avenir Value Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund will invest in securities where Avenir believes the company is simply mis-priced and deeply undervalued and offers significant potential for revaluation. The Fund will also invest in companies that are subject to specific corporate events such as mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, recapitalisations, spin-offs, demergers, management change, distressed situations, and other sharply delineated corporate events. The Fund will also selectively invest in short positions in companies where Avenir believes the company is significantly overvalued or where the company's business model is broken or structurally challenged. |
| Manager Comments | At month-end, the Fund's geographical disposition was 50.60% in US, 13.4% in Asia, 8.1% in Western Europe, 3.9% in other and rest 24.0% as cash. The portfolio concentration in the top 10 holdings were 61% of NAV. Click below to view the June 2015 Fund Report. |
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Freehold Absolute Return Fund
27 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Freehold Absolute Return Fund delivered a positive 1.81% in June, in a weak and volatile equity market (-5.30%).
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27 Jul 2015 - Freehold Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund's research use detailed analysis of the underlying assets integrated with financial analysis to determine a sustainable yield and fundamental DCF valuation for the security. Also the Fund believes in having a strong risk control framework. The Fund will also use trading strategies via rebalancing of core portfolio positions as well as taking advantage of shorter duration inefficiencies in markets caused by an imbalance in demand and supply for global REIT and Infrastructure securities. The Fund focuses on generating absolute returns after fees of 12 to 15% pa over the medium to long term. The long-short nature of the Fund combined with Freehold's rigorous investment process ensures returns generated by the Fund are largely independent of rising or falling markets. Freehold is focused on providing investment opportunities primarily within core, value-add, opportunistic and development sectors of direct property and across listed and unlisted real estate and infrastructure securities. |
| Manager Comments | The portfolio's positive contributors in Jun were Westfield Group, Sydney Airport and Federation Centres. Negative Contributors were Industria REIT, Duet Group and APN Property Group. The Fund had moved to a net long position early in June on the back of a mild correction in the real estate and infrastructure markets combined and the sector had strong ex-dividend period. This positioning delivered quickly, within one week the sector experienced a very strong rally in the face of rising, macroeconomic risks from Greece and China. From this point the sector saw a serious correction due to rising macro risks, whilst the Fund was positioned to maintain its early strong gains. Click below to view the latest Fund & Market commentary. |
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