News
Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund
5 Nov 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund returned 1.66% during October as equity markets rebounded, with 12 month performance at 16.37% and a volatility of 7.41%.
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5 Nov 2014 - Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The objective of the Fund is to identify undervalued Microcap companies, invest in them and, through a medium to long term commitment, attempt to deliver superior investment returns. The Fund invests primarily in ASX listed Microcap companies, which at the time of initial investment are generally below a market capitalisation of A$250 million. The Fund may also invest in companies with a higher market capitalisation, but these will be limited to no more than 20% of the assets of the Fund. At times the Fund may invest in pre-IPO securities that are due to be listed on the ASX within 3-6 months, and have lodged a prospectus with ASIC. These investments will also be limited to no more than 10% of the assets of the Fund. The Fund will be limited to investing no more than 20% of the Fund's assets in any one security or company. The Fund will make investments with a medium to long term time horizon of between 3-5+ years. The Fund will not speculate in derivatives. It will be permitted to hold other securities that are directly associated with a particular investment such as options granted with a specific company issue etc. The Fund will not engage in short selling or stock lending. The Fund will not hold financial debt of any kind. |
| Manager Comments | Since inception (March 2009) performance is sound at 28.49% pa as compared to the ASX 200 Accum Index at 13.51% pa. Up and Down Capture ratios over the same time are 1.13 and 0.26 respectively. After almost six years of what was originally viewed as a radical policy the US Federal Reserve announced last month that it would end its final purchase of bonds. The program of quantitative easing rapidly expanded the Fed's balance sheet. In macroeconomic management, isolating the causality of policy measures is never a conclusive exercise. Objectively however we can safely say the quantitative easing program certainly contributed positively to steering the US economy back to life from the precipice of the GFC. Inflation has remained low, the currency has not lost its allure as the world's most sought after legal tender and unemployment (albeit slowly) has declined to acceptable levels. Despite the end of quantitative easing, the monetary policy of the Fed remains extraordinarily accommodative. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Fund AFM Fund Review September 2014
4 Nov 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
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, with a twelve year track record and annualised net returns of 17.49% pa.CPD Points are...
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4 Nov 2014 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Fund AFM Fund Review September 2014
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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, with a twelve year track record and annualised net returns of 17.49% pa.
- 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.
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Fund performance was muted for the month as the market drifted without any strong thematic and investors were subject to merger andacquisition activity/speculation, yield/defensive buying and stock specific issues. Our assessment is that the April factors thatnegatively impacted fund returns, which were of a more global nature, were persisting early in the period but since have abated. Fund activitywas limited in May as our view of market fundamentals have not really changed.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sean Webster
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Totus Alpha Fund Sept 2014
3 Nov 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund returned 1.02% for September and 30.88% over the last 12 months, read the latest Fund Review with statistics since inception. CPD Points also available.
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3 Nov 2014 - Fund Review: Totus Alpha Fund Sept 2014
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund AFM Review Sept 2014 (pdf format)
TOTUS ALPHA 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;
- 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 $10bn+ long-only manager, and sell side emerging companies experience at UBS. McGarry?s emerging company research with UBS included exposure to a range of sectors including energy, materials, industrials, tech, financials, retail and telecommunications.
- The Fund has delivered an annalised return of 26.92% since inception in March 2012 as compared to 16.37% for the ASX 200 Accumulation Index. The standard deviation has been higher than the Index at 13.64% as compared to 10.47% and the Sharpe ratio is 1.62.
Sean Webster
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund AFM Review Sept 2014 (pdf format)
Allard Investment Fund
3 Nov 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Allard Investment Fund returned 3.20% in September, ahead of the benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific ex Japan (A$) at -1.0%, with the annual return 12.96%.
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3 Nov 2014 - Allard Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | At the end of September the asset breakdown of the portfolio stood at 75.5% invested in equities and 24.5% held in cash and fixed income. Within equities the Fund major sector holdings were Financial Services (19.0%), Conglomerates (11.9%) and Telco's (7.8%) Major country holdings were HK/China 41.5% and Singapore 11.9%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Cor Capital Fund
31 Oct 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Cor Capital Fund's diversification was seen in September when the Fund fell 1.03% as compared to the ASX 200 Accum Index which fell 5.38%. Annual return was 2.41%.
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31 Oct 2014 - 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 | In month's with negative equity market returns the Fund's average draw-down is -0.06% as compared to -2.80%. In positive month's on the equity market the averages are 0.34% and 2.19% respectively. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: Alpha Beta Asian Fund AFM Fund Review September 2014
30 Oct 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Alpha Beta Asian Fund, an Asian Quantitative Fund, returned 7.07% over the 12 months to end-September with a volatility of 3.99%. The Fund CPD Points available for reading the review.
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30 Oct 2014 - Fund Review: Alpha Beta Asian Fund AFM Fund Review September 2014
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Alpha Beta Asian Fund AFM Fund Review Sept 2014 (pdf format)
ALPHA BETA ASIAN FUND
AFM has updated the Fund Review on the Alpha Beta Asian 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.
Key points include:
- The Fund The Alpha Beta Asian Fund invests in Asian listed equity markets with a focus on liquid companies in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. The Fund uses a systematic approach to evaluate macroeconomic, company fundamental and price data, all of which are evaluated through a series of quantitative models.
- Sydney based Alpha Beta Capital was established by Andrew Barry and Ken Lewis in May 2012. Both Barry and Lewis have significant qualifications and international experience in funds management, including working together at Coronation International, a global multi-strategy hedge fund group in London.
- The Strategy relies on a number of core beliefs: Firstly that a well designed systematic investment process, operating within a multi-strategy framework will be able to extract consistent returns, on average, with low volatility. Secondly, by utilising holding periods substantially shorter than the industry-norm, profit opportunities consistently arise. Finally, a strategy that holds a large number of small positions versus a small number of concentrated positions, will remove much of the emotional angst of trading, and the investment process becomes repeatable.
- In keeping with the Manager's overall systematic approach the Risk Management includes real time monitoring of positions and market exposure, and is combined into a proprietary and automated system called PARMS (Portfolio and Risk Management System). PARMS is a centralised and integrated system which provides full functionality including stress testing.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sean Webster
Research Manager
Alpha Beta Asian Fund AFM Fund Review Sept 2014 (pdf format)
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund Sept 2014
30 Oct 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned -3.59% in September, a weak month for domestic equities (ASX 200 Accum Index -5.38%), with 12 month performance at -5.45%.
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30 Oct 2014 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund Sept 2014
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | In a typical environment the Fund will hold around 70 stocks comprising 35 pairs. Each pair contains one long and one short position each of which will have been thoroughly researched and are selected from the same market sector. Whilst in an ideal environment each stock's position will make a positive return, it is the relative performance of the pair that is important. As a result the Fund can make positive returns when each stock moves in the same direction provided the long position outperforms the short one in relative terms. However, if neither side of the trade is profitable, strict controls are required to ensure losses are limited. The Fund uses no derivatives and has no currency exposure. The Fund has no hard stop loss limits, instead relying on the small average position size per stock (1.5%) and per pair (3%) to limit exposure. Where practical pairs are always held within the same sector to limit cross sector risk, and positions can be held for months or years. |
| Manager Comments | Long term performance remains sound with since inception (Jan 2003) returns at 17.45% pa (Index 8.01%) and a volatility of 11.90% (Index 12.90%). Sharpe and Sortino ratios are well ahead of the Index at 1.04 and 1.74 respectively. Fund performance in September was very disappointing in the context that we were well positioned for this correction as the factors that reversed this month, being price momentum and yield (the so called 'carry trade'), do not rate as solid investment fundamentals in our process and had previously been detractors from fund performance. As such the majority of the portfolio performed satisfactorily however the primary determinant of fund return is always stock selection and several stock specific issues affected returns during an extremely weak market which produced some relatively severe adverse movements in prices. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
KIS Asia Long Short Fund
29 Oct 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
KIS Asia Long Short Fund returned -0.08% during September and 8.21% for the prior year with a volatility of 2.73%.
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29 Oct 2014 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | Fears of a deflationary environment became evident in markets this month. The Deutsche Bank Market Implied US Inflation Index has spent the past year in a range of 2.10% to 2.20%. From the 16th Sept to 30th Sept, this fell from 2.06% to 1.91%. As we write this the index has now slumped to 1.76%. The main driver would appear to be weak data from Europe. There is little question that Mario Draghi, president of ECB, is committed to do whatever it takes to stimulate the European economy and prevent a deflationary situation. The question is: what can he do? Central Bankers do not have an endless series of monetary stimulation policies and methods. At some point, fiscal stimulus, which should have a positive IRR (albeit this can be low), will need to be used to address the situation. In Europe this is not simply a political decision, but a complicated multi country political negotiation where Sovereign balance sheets are in very different states. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: Bennelong Alpha 200 Fund Sept 2014
28 Oct 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Alpha 200 Fund primarily invests within the top 200 by market capitalisation, using a similar "pairs trading" approach while remaining broadly market neutral on a cost basis. The Fund returned 0.56% in September and -0.10% since...
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28 Oct 2014 - Fund Review: Bennelong Alpha 200 Fund Sept 2014
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Alpha 200 Fund AFM Fund Review Sept 2014 (pdf format)
BENNELONG ALPHA 200 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 Bennelong Alpha 200 Fund is a new fund opened in December 2013. The Fund is broadly modelled on the strategy used for Bennelong's original Equity Long Short Fund which uses a market neutral "pairs trading" approach to invest in Top 100 stocks, and which has been managed by Richard Fish since the inception of BLESM in 2002.
- The Alpha 200 Fund however primarily invests within the top 200 by market capitalisation, using a similar "pairs trading" approach while remaining broadly market neutral on a cost basis.
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The Fund will hold 70 - 90 stocks comprising 35 to 45 pairs,although it can hold up to 100 stocks and 50 pairs. Each pair contains one
long and one short position each of which is thoroughly researched and,where possible, from the same market sector. The pair positions are dollar neutral at cost, limited in terms of sector exposure, and give theportfolio a target beta of zero over time.
- In addition to Richard Fish, the team is composed of Sam Shepherd who joined BLESM from Credit Suisse, where he ran the Melbourne institutional equities desk. Shepherd's 20 year experience also covers JP Morgan and Norwich Investment Management. Tim Hall recently joined BLSEM as a specialist mid and small-cap portfolio manager to work on the expanded universe of the 200 Alpha Fund. The team is supported by experienced investment analyst, Sam Taylor.
If you have any questions in relation to the Fund Review, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sean Webster
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Alpha 200 Fund AFM Fund Review Sept 2014 (pdf format)
Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund
28 Oct 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 0.84% during September and 9.54% for the prior year (as compared to the RBA Cash Rate of 2.50%) with a volatility of 0.57%.
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28 Oct 2014 - 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 | Fund composition at month-end was RMBS 64%, Listed Securities 8%, Corporate Bonds 7%, Short date Loans 20% and Cash 1%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
