Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

14 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund fell 0.59% in April to bring the Fund's annual performance since inception to 13.08% compared to the ASX200 Accumulation benchmark's 5.61%.

14 May 2015 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	12 May 2015
Manager	Kardinia Capital, a Bennelong Funds Management boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	-0.59%
Latest 6 Months	6.82%
Latest 12 Months	9.22%
Latest 24 Months	17.45%
Annualised Since Inception	13.08%
Inception Date	01 May 2006
FUM (millions)	AU$196.7
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 fell 0.59% in April to bring the Fund's annual performance since inception to 13.08% compared to the ASX200 Accumulation benchmark's 5.61%. The Fund's volatility of 7.33% is half that of the ASX200 Accumulation volatility 14.19%. Since inception of May 2006, the Fund's Sharpe and Sortino ratio were 1.14 (Index 0.16) and 2.20 (Index 0.11) respectively. The net equity market exposure of the Fund (including derivatives) was reduced during the month to 39.80% (70.40% long and 30.60% short). ResMed's poorly received quarterly results were a major detractor from the Fund's performance, along with Ramsay Health Care and Westpac. Share Price Index Futures contracts (hedging market exposure), Surfstitch and Transurban were the largest positive contributors. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's Report.
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Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

13 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Optimal Australia Absolute Trust reported a net positive return in April of 1.96%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation Index of -1.70%.

13 May 2015 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	12 May 2015
Manager	Optimal Fund Management Australia
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	1.96%
Latest 6 Months	-1.13%
Latest 12 Months	1.91%
Latest 24 Months	6.62%
Annualised Since Inception	8.90%
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 reported a net positive return in April of 1.96%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation Index of -1.70%. The Fund's annualised return since inception was 8.90% (Index 6.46%), which has been achieved with a notably low volatility of 3.66% (Index 14.43%). The Fund had a gross exposure of 100.30% and net exposure of -0.1%. The Fund's stock selection performed strongly in April, with positive attribution on both the fund's long (+0.5%) and short (+1.5%) positions, in an appreciably weaker and more volatile equity market. Their long position in Fairfax and shorts in the banks both did well. The Fund's stock returns were otherwise quite diversified, with no single theme or sector dominating overall performance. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's review of the Fund and the Market.
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Monash Absolute Investment Fund

12 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Monash Absolute Investment Fund had a flat April (0.0%), while the Australian equity market had its second consecutive negative month (-1.70%).

12 May 2015 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	07 May 2015
Manager	Monash Investors Pty Limited
Fund Name	Monash Absolute Investment Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	April 2015
Latest Return	0.00%
Latest 6 Months	3.83%
Latest 12 Months	2.87%
Latest 24 Months	28.39%
Annualised Since Inception	16.00%
Inception Date	30 May 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$29
Fund Overview	The Monash Absolute Investment Fund is a long/short equity fund, with a home bias to investing in Australia. It invests in shares as a source of specific opportunity, not to go up and down with the market. The fund seeks to identify opportunities in the share market to make positive returns (long and short) irrespective of market conditions. It is style agnostic, as compelling investment opportunities exist across all investment styles from time to time. The Fund places a high priority on capital preservation, and has an absolute return focus in accepting market risk. The Manager's experience across value, growth and discounted cash flow styles allows them to use a comprehensive approach to investment decisions that applies all three. They also have the patience to seek out only compelling opportunities, rather than settling for relative value. The portfolio is somewhat concentrated, looking to diversify across industries and themes, rather than by trying to stay near an index. The portfolio may at times have a large amount of cash or other protection. However once investments are made turnover may be relatively high in order to lock in gains and avoid losses.
Manager Comments	Monash Absolute Investment Fund had a flat April (0.0%), while the Australian equity market had its second consecutive negative month (-1.70%). The Fund's performance since inception was 16.00% with annual volatility of 7.83%, bringing the Sharpe ratio and Sortino ratio to 1.61 and 3.58 respectively. The Manager's month-end exposure was net 71%, gross 95%,VAR 1.0%, with a beta of 0.49 for the portfolio. The Fund's short positions generally assisted in April, which was offset by larger portfolio positions that fell despite no news. Some of the highs for the month came from strong gains in VMoto (VMT) and from Energy Action (EAX). However Next DC (NXT) and Netcomm Wireless (NTC) were negative contributors to the Fund's performance. Click the link below to the rest of the Fund Manager's Report.
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Fund Review: Supervised High Yield Fund March 2015

11 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Fund review on Supervised High Yield Fund, a fixed income fund, is now available. Also get CPD Points for reading the review.

11 May 2015 - Fund Review: Supervised High Yield Fund March 2015

By: Australian Fund Monitors

SUPERVISED HIGH YIELD FUND

Attached is AFM's updated Fund Review on the Supervised High Yield Fund.

CPD Points are now available for all AFM Fund Reviews. Read the review and answer 5 questions to earn half a point toward your continuing professional development.

We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:

The Supervised High Yield Fund (SHYF) has a 5 year track record investing in fixed interest investments. The Investment strategy aims to deliver returns with zero correlation to equity markets by investing in debt securities with minimal default probability and offering a premium return above the risk free rate.
The Fund is managed by Philip Carden whose experience in debt and capital markets spans 32 years, including time with JB Were's Capel Court Securities and Macquarie Bank, where he was the Executive Director responsible for the Debt Markets Division.
SHYF is an Alternative Income fund which invests in Global and Australian debt markets, with all foreign currency receivables hedged back to Australian dollars.
The Fund utilises a top down analysis of the economic environment and market to screen and identify debt market opportunities which it believes offer low risk with high yield. The next stage is the development of a risk matrix and investment strategy, following which detailed research is undertaken on specific investment opportunities which meet the pre-defined criteria established in the investment strategy.
Prior to approving an investment for the Fund each potential investment is subject to two stress tests. The first of these is for credit and default risk, in which the investment is stress-tested to ensure that in a worst case economic environment it can repay 100% of its principal and interest obligations case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided The second test examines market risk. In this case Carden looks at the worst case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided.

Sean Webster

Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILES

Supervised High Yield AFM performance report March 2015 (pdf format)

Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund March 2015

8 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Insync Global Titans decreased by 0.50% during March. Read the latest Fund Review & get CPD points.

KIS Asia Long Short Fund

7 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

KIS Asia Long Short Fund rose 2.59% during March, bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 14.91% p.a.

7 May 2015 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	04 May 2015
Manager	KIS Capital Partners
Fund Name	KIS Asia Long Short Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	March 2015
Latest Return	2.59%
Latest 6 Months	2.26%
Latest 12 Months	3.40%
Latest 24 Months	20.12%
Annualised Since Inception	14.91%
Inception Date	01 October 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$37
Fund Overview	The Fund's investment objective is to generate absolute returns, in Australian dollars, of around 15% p.a. after all fees without noticeable correlation to any particular asset class or market. Whilst the Fund's primary strategy is focused on long/short equities, the ability to retain discretionary powers to allocate across a number of other investment strategies is reserved. These strategies may include, but not be limited to: convertible bond investments, portfolio hedging, equity related arbitrage, special situations (e.g. merger arbitrage, rights offerings, participation in international public offerings and placements, etc.). The Fund's geographic focus is Asia excluding Japan, but including Australia). The Fund may invest outside of this region to the extent that: 1. The investment decision is driven from the Asian region or; 2. The exposure is intended to mitigate risk or enhance return from factors external to the Asian region.
Manager Comments	KIS Asia Long Short Fund rose 2.59% during March, bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 14.91% p.a. In comparison, the AFM Asia Pacific ex-Japan Benchmark returned 5.46% p.a. The Fund's annual return was achieved with lower volatility of 5.42% (Index 9.38%), to give strong Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 1.98 (Index 0.24) and 4.54 (Index 0.28) over the same time frame. Majority of the month's return came from the Long Short Strategy, contributing 242bp. The Fund saw extraordinary moves in Hong Kong as the market anticipates mainland institutions buying cheaper Hong Kong equities given valuations have risen significantly in mainland A-shares. The Fund also saw improving volumes in the equity markets that they focus on and believe M&A is making a significant come back as are IPO's and secondary deals. The Fund continues to have a long bias in Asia and a short bias in Australia where the economic outlook is poor. Markets in Australia have been driven higher on interest rate cuts, rather than improvements in company earnings. Overall, equity markets look expensive; the Fund is cautious given the reasonable probability of a fall in equities at some point during the year. Click below to read rest of the Fund Manager's Latest Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Alpha Beta Asian Fund

6 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Alpha Beta Asian Fund generated a return of -1.16% during March to bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 6.77% pa.

6 May 2015 - Alpha Beta Asian Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	01 May 2015
Manager	Alpha Beta Capital
Fund Name	Alpha Beta Asian Fund
Strategy	Equity Market Neutral
Latest Return Date	March 2015
Latest Return	-1.16%
Latest 6 Months	0.38%
Latest 12 Months	1.58%
Latest 24 Months	16.14%
Annualised Since Inception	6.77%
Inception Date	01 June 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$12
Fund Overview	The Alpha Beta Asian Fund is a market neutral quantitative long short fund with exposure to liquid Asian equities. The investment objective of the Fund is to produce positive annual returns without excessive risk. This is achieved through the use of a quantitative approach to invest both long and short in large cap companies listed on Asian stock exchanges. The Fund may also use index futures to manage risk. Stock prices and company fundamental data are decomposed into directional and mean reverting components. Each of Alpha Beta's models are based on either of these known behaviours with capital management built into each model. The benefit of a quantitative approach is that it is both repeatable and unemotional, and allows a different source of returns to be extracted from a very noisy market environment.
Manager Comments	Alpha Beta Asian Fund generated a return of -1.16% during March to bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 6.77% pa. The Fund's twelve month annualized volatility was 3.93% compared to the AFM Asia Pacific Index of 7.42% The Fund's March performance was driven by weak performance in their Quantamental models, as value factors were hit quite hard in Japan and Korea in particular. The Fund's Statistic Arbitrage models were relatively steady during the month. The Fund has recently completed their out of sample testing on two additions to their Stat Arb suite: a new Seasonality model for Japan, and a new Pairs Trading strategy for both Japan and Australia. Out of sample results were strong in both cases and the Fund is now working to implement these two models. Click the link below to see the Latest Fund Manager's Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Signature Quantitative Fund

5 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Signature Quantitative Fund returned 2.80% for March, to bring the annual performance since inception to 15.99%.

5 May 2015 - Signature Quantitative Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	01 May 2015
Manager	Quant Investment Management Services Pty Ltd
Fund Name	Signature Quantitative Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	March 2015
Latest Return	2.80%
Latest 6 Months	2.11%
Latest 12 Months	9.47%
Latest 24 Months
Annualised Since Inception	15.99%
Inception Date	01 January 2014
FUM (millions)	AU$25
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 returned 2.80% for March, to bring the annual performance since inception to 15.99%. In comparison, the ASX200 Accumulation annual return was 12.98% p.a. The Fund's annualised volatility was 8.49%, compared to the Index of 11.45%. The Fund's strong performance has been achieved with lower volatility, bringing the Fund's Sharpe Ratio and Sortino Ratio to 1.51 (Index 0.91) and 3.74 (Index 1.46) respectively. In February, the Dividend Arbitrage Strategy performed strongly. The Dividend Arbitrage strategy performed strongly in March. SQF closed out a large majority of the Dividend Arbitrage strategy trades through March as many stocks went ex-dividend. SQF's outperformance was driven primarily by the ex-date anomaly working well for the fund. The Capital Raisings and Alpha Capture strategies had flat performance in March. Click the link below to view the latest Monthly Report.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Supervised High Yield Fund

4 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Supervised High Yield Fund rose 0.45% during March to bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 10.23%. In the same time frame the RBA Cash Rate returned 3.49%.

4 May 2015 - Supervised High Yield Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	01 May 2015
Manager	Supervised Investments Australia Ltd
Fund Name	Supervised High Yield Fund
Strategy	Fixed Income
Latest Return Date	March 2015
Latest Return	0.45%
Latest 6 Months	2.62%
Latest 12 Months	5.70%
Latest 24 Months	13.88%
Annualised Since Inception	10.23%
Inception Date	01 April 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$21
Fund Overview	The Supervised High Yield Fund is an AUD denominated alternative income fund which invests only in debt securities. The investment objective of the fund is to outperform a benchmark of 1.5% above the RBA cash rate, whilst trying to minimise the risk of permanent loss of capital. 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 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	Supervised High Yield Fund rose 0.45% during March to bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 10.23%. In the same time frame the RBA Cash Rate returned 3.49%. The Fund has achieved this performance with a relatively low volatility of 2.11% (RBA Cash Rate 0.24%) to give a Sharpe and Sortino Ratio of 3.09 and 34.11 respectively. More than half of the portfolio's composition was in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) at 55.28%. The rest of the portfolio was divided in the following sectors: US Corporate Loans at26.82%, Cash at 10.00% and Margin deposit at 5.12% and AUD Corporate Loans at 2.36%. Click below to view the latest Fund Manager Report.
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Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund March 2015

1 May 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors

Latest fund review now available for the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund, which has one of the most risk averse Key Performance Statistics of any fund in AFM's database. CPD Points available.

Fund Monitors Pty Ltd

News

14 May 2015 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

13 May 2015 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

12 May 2015 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund

11 May 2015 - Fund Review: Supervised High Yield Fund March 2015

8 May 2015 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund March 2015

7 May 2015 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund

6 May 2015 - Alpha Beta Asian Fund

5 May 2015 - Signature Quantitative Fund

4 May 2015 - Supervised High Yield Fund

1 May 2015 - Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund March 2015

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