Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund June 2014

6 Aug 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

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.

Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund

5 Aug 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund recorded a notable monthly out-performance with a return of 5.94% during July and 34.46% for the previous twelve months.

5 Aug 2014 - Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	04 August 2014
Manager	Microequities
Fund Name	Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	July 2014
Latest Return	5.94%
Latest 6 Months	12.64%
Latest 12 Months	34.46%
Latest 24 Months	83.57%
Annualised Since Inception	30.50%
Inception Date	06 March 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$45.7
Fund Overview	The Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund, launched in March 2009, is an open-ended unregistered Managed Investment Scheme designed for the Australian wholesale market. 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	Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund recorded a notable monthly out-performance with a return of 5.94% during July and 34.46% (ASX 200 Accum 16.54%) for the previous twelve months. Two months ago we alluded to the particular anomalies that have contributed to the US negative GDP number for the 1st quarter of 2014. We expected the second quarter number to be much more representative of the underlying strength of the US economic resurgence. That prognosis was affirmed earlier during the week when the US reported second quarter GDP growth of 4%, with firmer labor market conditions and solid consumer spending underpinning the growth rate. The outlook for the second half remains positive as the drivers for consumer confidence should contribute to a more appeasing environment for the US consumer to spend.
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Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust June 2014

4 Aug 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

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.

Fund Review: Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund May 2014

1 Aug 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for the Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund for May 2014. The Fund is characterised by strong returns (29.82% pa since inception) albeit with higher volatility (15.09%) than the ASX 200 Accum Index.

Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund

1 Aug 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund returned 1.04% during June and 7.93% for the prior 12 months with a low volatility of 2.86%.

1 Aug 2014 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	31 July 2014
Manager	Pengana Capital
Fund Name	Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund
Strategy	Event Driven
Latest Return Date	June 2014
Latest Return	1.04%
Latest 6 Months	1.93%
Latest 12 Months	7.93%
Latest 24 Months	19.43%
Annualised Since Inception	11.23%
Inception Date	01 September 2010
FUM (millions)	AU$64
Fund Overview	The Pengana Asia Special Events (Onshore) 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. The Fund seeks to profit from trading securities which are primarily subject to corporate events or from trading-related securities which the Investment Manager believes are mispriced by the market. The Fund invests in securities that are listed on Asian stock markets and other markets where related securities may be listed and in securities which are listed on markets outside of Asia where more than 70% (by assets or earnings) of the underlying business originates from an Asian country. 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%
Manager Comments	Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund returned 1.04% during June and 7.93% for the prior 12 months with a low volatility of 2.86%. Since inception in October 2008 the Fund has out-performed the ASX 200 Accumulation Index with a return of 11.23% pa as compared to 7.49%. The Fund's volatility was below that of the Index at 6.04% (Index 14.11%) while the Sharpe and Sortino ratios are 1.21 and 3.00 respectively with the Fund recording 80% positive months. The Fund's gross exposures by strategy (at month-end) were M&A 46%, Capital Management 23.3%, Stubs 14.3% and Index Futures 7.1%.
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Forager Australian Shares Fund

31 Jul 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Forager Australian Shares Fund returned -0.15% during June and 17.72% over the year-ended June 2014 with a volatility of 11.48%.

31 Jul 2014 - Forager Australian Shares Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	30 July 2014
Manager	Forager Funds Management
Fund Name	Forager Australian Shares Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	June 2014
Latest Return	-0.15%
Latest 6 Months	-2.12%
Latest 12 Months	17.72%
Latest 24 Months	61.15%
Annualised Since Inception	12.67%
Inception Date	17 October 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$53
Fund Overview	Forager Funds Management places no emphasis on predicting short-term price movements or the direction of markets. The focus is on valuing securities and attempting to buy them for substantially less than their underlying value. The Forager approach is to be patient, selective and only invest in opportunities where the gap between its estimate of value and the current security price is significant enough to compensate for the large degree of uncertainty inherent in valuing any security.
Manager Comments	Forager Australian Shares Fund returned -0.15% (ASX 200 Accum Index -1.50%) during June and 17.72% (Index 17.43%) over the year-ended June 2014 with a volatility of 11.48% (Index 8.56%). The economic outlook in Australia, however, remains a concern. The boom in new mining investment has now clearly come to an end but, as the chart below shows, the impact on the economy has been cushioned so far by the completion of old projects. The contribution of business investment to gross domestic product (GDP), currently at record highs, is set to fall heavily. Investment from the last decade ensures Australia will export record tonnes of ore, but unlike investment and construction, the additional benefits to the wider economy are limited. So what does this mean for the portfolio? Luckily value investors do not have to play fair (the idea is pretty much to play as unfairly as possible) so the Fund can cherry pick areas it likes and avoid other ones entirely. It has been a theme for the past five years, but we are still focused on finding foreign currency exposure on the ASX. The trends highlighted above are likely to force the Australian dollar, which has appreciated 5% to US$0.943 this year, lower long term. The full text of the Fund's quarterly report is on the AFM website under the Fund's profile.
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KIS Asia Long Short Fund

30 Jul 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

KIS Asia Long Short Fund returned 0.95% during June and 11.89% for the previous 12 months with a low volatility of 2.69%.

30 Jul 2014 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	29 July 2014
Manager	KIS Capital Partners
Fund Name	KIS Asia Long Short Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	June 2014
Latest Return	0.95%
Latest 6 Months	4.07%
Latest 12 Months	11.89%
Latest 24 Months	26.16%
Annualised Since Inception	16.72%
Inception Date	01 October 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$35
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 returned 0.95% during June and 11.89% for the previous 12 months with a low volatility of 2.69% and a Sharpe ratio of 3.29. Suffice it to say we still believe that globally long dated bonds do not offer value, money on deposit is a waste of opportunity, credit spreads are too tight to reflect normal default risk and equity volatility cannot remain this low forever. These are all observations of markets that have been strongly influenced by the liquidity that has been put into markets by various central banks. These are asset classes you can easily lose money on in tightening liquidity conditions. More importantly, our view is that these assets are now so artificially priced you are unlikely to make a decent return even if central banks keep the liquidity tap on. On the subject of when will the liquidity tap be closed; as inflationary signs begin to appear in wages and consumer price indices the various central banks will be forced to reduce the flow of money. We watch carefully for a tick up in these barometers.
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Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund

29 Jul 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund returned 1.09% during June and 12.20% over the previous 12 months as compared to the RBA cash rate over that time of 2.54%.

Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund May 2014

28 Jul 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for the Morphic Global Opportunities Fund for June 2014 has been released. The Fund returned 1.07% during the month for an annual return of 20.81%.

Cor Capital Fund

28 Jul 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors

Cor Capital Fund returned 7.82% for the 12 months to 30 June 2014 with a volatility of 5.85% and the one month return is 0.76%.

28 Jul 2014 - Cor Capital Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	24 July 2014
Manager	Cor Capital Pty Ltd
Fund Name	Cor Capital Fund
Strategy	Multi Strategy
Latest Return Date	June 2014
Latest Return	0.76%
Latest 6 Months	2.93%
Latest 12 Months	7.82%
Latest 24 Months
Annualised Since Inception	4.87%
Inception Date	08 August 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$21
Fund Overview	The Manager seeks to generate stable absolute returns over the medium term, regardless of prevailing economic or financial market conditions. 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 Cor Capital Fund returned 7.8% for the 12 months to 30 June 2014 with a volatility of 5.85% and the one month return was 0.76% p.a. The annual return since inception is 4.9% p.a. The Manager regularly rebalances funds away from 'popular' assets and markets, and towards the less popular. The Fund benefitted during June by recent additions to gold bullion with the precious metal up 3.58% (in AUD terms) over the month. This represented the major contribution to monthly performance (+0.83%) with a negative contribution from equities (-0.41%) more than offsetting bonds (+0.20%) and cash (+0.12%).
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Fund Monitors Pty Ltd

News

6 Aug 2014 - Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund June 2014

5 Aug 2014 - Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund

4 Aug 2014 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust June 2014

1 Aug 2014 - Fund Review: Microequities Deep Value Microcap Fund May 2014

1 Aug 2014 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Australian Fund

31 Jul 2014 - Forager Australian Shares Fund

30 Jul 2014 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund

29 Jul 2014 - Laminar Credit Opportunities Fund

28 Jul 2014 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund May 2014

28 Jul 2014 - Cor Capital Fund

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