• 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 86% of monthly performances have been positive with no losing months in 2008, annualised standard deviation of 2.71%, the Fund's largest drawdown is -2.09% and the Sharpe ratio 1.05.

• ASX listed Aurora Funds Limited was established on the merger of three existing fund management businesses, managing approximately $230m on behalf  of more than 2,500 retail and wholesale investors.

ATTACHED FILESAurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund - AFM Fund Review December 2014 (pdf format)

BENNELONG LONG SHORT EQUITY FUND

Attached is our most recently updated  Fund Review on the Bennelong Long Short Equity 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.

• The Fund is a research driven, market and sector neutral, "pairs" trading strategy investing primarily in large cap stocks from the ASX/S&P100 Index, and has produced an annualised return of 17.25% against the broader ASX200 Accumulation return of 8.11%.

• The consistent returns across the investment history indicates the Fund's ability to provide positive returns in volatile and negative markets and significantly outperform the broader market.

• Fund performance was muted for the month as the market drifted without any strong thematic and investors were subject to merger and acquisition activity/speculation, yield/defensive buying and stock specific issues. Our assessment is that the April factors that negatively impacted fund returns, which were of a more global nature, were persisting early in the period but since have abated. Fund activity was limited in May as our view of market fundamentals have not really changed.

Sean Webster
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESBennelong Long Short Equity Fund December 2014 (pdf format)

ALPHA BETA ASIAN FUND

ATTACHED FILESAurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund - AFM Fund Review December 2014 (pdf format)

OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE TRUST

AFM have released the most recently updated Fund Review on the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust.

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;

• 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 supported by Stephen Nicholls and Justin Hay have over 100 years combined experience in equity markets.

• The Fund's approach to risk is shown by the Sharpe ratio of 1.51, Sortino ratio of 3.77, both of which are well above the ASX 200 Accumulation Index and has recorded 82% positive months.

For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sean Webster
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors

ATTACHED FILESOptimal Australia Absolute Trust AFM Fund Review December 2014 (pdf format)

• The Fund is long biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies with an eight year track record. 

• The Fund has significantly outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index since its inception in April 2006 and also has significantly lower risk KPI's. The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund returned 1.53% in December 2014 compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 0.21%. Since inception the fund has volatility of 4.17% pa, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's 10.95%.

• 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 the Bennelong Group provide infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution capabilities.

ATTACHED FILESBennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund - dec 2014 fund review (pdf format)

INSYNC GLOBAL TITANS FUND

ATTACHED FILESInsync Global Titans Fund AFM Review - Dec 2014 (pdf format)