Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund

19 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund returned -0.5% during July and has returned 8.94% since inception (September 2008) with a volatility of 8.1%.

Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

16 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for Morphic Global Opportunities Fund, showing KPI's for July 2013 vs ASX200, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.

BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund

16 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund returned 1.92% for July. The since inception (August 2001)return is 12.23% pa.

16 Aug 2013 - BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	14 August 2013
Manager	BlackRock Asset Management Australia Limited
Fund Name	BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund
Strategy	Equity Market Neutral
Latest Return Date	July 2013
Latest Return	1.92%
Latest 6 Months	5.85%
Latest 12 Months	4.07%
Latest 24 Months	24.44%
Annualised Since Inception	12.23%
Inception Date	31 August 2001
FUM (millions)	AU$671
Fund Overview	The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund aims to deliver returns that are 8% per annum above those of the RBA Cash Rate Target before fees, over rolling 3 year periods. The Fund's portfolio primarily consists of long and short Australian equity positions. The Fund may also invest in other funds managed by BlackRock. Derivative securities, such as futures, forwards, swaps and options, can be used to manage risk and return Key insights into the investment process include: Analyst Expectations, Relative Valuation, Earnings Quality, Market Signals and Timing. Short-Term return enhancing opportunities including: Dividend reinvestment plans, Manging index changes, Managing cash flows and Arbitrage, Initial public offerings and Seasoned Equity Offerings and Off Market Buybacks.
Manager Comments	The BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund returned 1.92% for July. The since inception (August 2001) return is 12.23%. The Fund's risk characteristics are notable with an annualised standard deviation of 5.71% and largest drawdown of -12.41% since inception, as compared to the ASX 200 Accumulation numbers of 13.27% and -47.19% respectively. In addition, over the same time frame, the Fund's up capture ratio is 0.11 and down capture ratio -0.60. Portfolio performance was strong in July. Solid gains for oil and gas stocks, assisted by geo-political tensions lifting the oil price, contributed significantly to portfolio performance. The weakness of domestic defensives, as cyclicals rallied, was another major contributor to performance. Of the investment insights, market and quality insights dominated portfolio performance, particularly the reversionary signals which had an outstanding second half of the month.
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Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund

15 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund returned 1.13% during July bringing since inception returns to 8.29% pa.

Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

14 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

AFM's updated Fund Review for BKARF, showing KPI's for July 2013 vs ASX200, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.

Pengana Australian Equities Fund

13 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Pengana Australian Equities Fund returned 2.00% for July and 22.92% for the 12 months ended July.

13 Aug 2013 - Pengana Australian Equities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	12 August 2013
Manager	Pengana Capital
Fund Name	Pengana Australian Equities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	July 2013
Latest Return	2.00%
Latest 6 Months	6.17%
Latest 12 Months	22.92%
Latest 24 Months	41.35%
Annualised Since Inception	13.10%
Inception Date	01 July 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$295
Fund Overview	The Fund invests in listed equities and seeks to hold a concentrated core portfolio of 15-20 listed stocks in outstanding businesses to provide capital preservation in real terms, and A$ returns of 12-15% p.a. compounded over the medium term time horizon. The Fund seeks to generate consistent investment returns using fundamental research to identify companies with competent management and resilient business models. The investment methodology is designed to profit from a focus on tax aware returns (both capital and income) generated by owning outstanding businesses at reasonable prices.
Manager Comments	The Pengana Australian Equities Fund returned 2.00% for July and now has an annualised return of 13.10% pa since inception in July 2008. As at 31st July, cash (including notes and preference shares) represented 28% of the Fund. The top five holdings by value were: DUET Group, ANZ Bank, Telstra, Resmed and the Caltex Group. The largest positive contributors to the month's performance came mainly from a rebound in those companies that were sold off in the prior two months. These included Duet Group, Seven West Media, Mermaid Marine and Telstra. The Fox Group (recently spun out of News Corporation) also represented a consistent positive contributor. After many years of significant and substantial gains, the McMillan Shakespeare share price fell sharply following the unexpected proposal by the Labor government to make a fundamental change to the fringe benefits tax legislation. While this impacted negatively on the Fund's monthly performance (by approximately -1%), the major portion of the Fund's holding had already been sold in prior months due to valuation concerns independent of this event. The Fund increased its existing holdings in Caltex, ANZ Bank, Resmed, Woolworths, CSL and McMillan Shakespeare with the latter occurring following the sharp sell-off during the month. The Fund's exposure to non-Australian dollar earnings streams (inclusive of companies with global earnings profiles such as Resmed and Fox Group, NZ based companies and US dollar exposure) stands at 21%. The Fund disposed of its holdings in Myer and APN.
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Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

12 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned 0.35% over July bringing it's since inception (September 2008) return to 11.11% pa.

12 Aug 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	09 August 2013
Manager	Optimal Fund Management Australia
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	July 2013
Latest Return	0.35%
Latest 6 Months	0.12%
Latest 12 Months	2.76%
Latest 24 Months	8.43%
Annualised Since Inception	11.11%
Inception Date	15 September 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$154
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	The Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned 0.35% over July bringing it's since inception (September 2008) return to 11.11% pa. The fund's risk statistics are notable. Downside capture ratios are -0.11, -0.12 and -0.22 over the last 12, 24 and 36 months respectively indicating that, on average, the fund has positive returns when the overall market is negative. Specifically, the fund has had positive monthly returns of 0.33%, 0.39% and 0.48% when the market is negative over the previous 12, 24 and 36 months. The Manager comments that it is certainly possible that equities will remain the 'best of a bad lot' from an asset allocation perspective, which may drive additional money flows and further price gains. However, in the Manager's view, equity valuations in Australia are essentially unattractive for a market which will likely follow any progressive, US-led normalisation of long bond rates, but which has vastly less certainty over earnings growth. There will always be opportunities for the fund at a stock level, especially through what appears likely to be a challenging earnings season. From this juncture ― featuring elevated volatility, high valuation, a questionable growth outlook, a risk that yield curve normalisation turns disorderly, and thus significant capital risk ― the Manager continues to favour a low net exposure, hedged approach to managing the fund's capital.
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Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

9 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Morphic Global Opportunities Fund returned 7.71% during July and 41.16% over the previous twelve months.

9 Aug 2013 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	8 August 2013
Manager	Morphic Asset Management
Fund Name	Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	July 2013
Latest Return	7.71%
Latest 6 Months	22.68%
Latest 12 Months	41.16%
Latest 24 Months
Annualised Since Inception	41.16%
Inception Date	02 August 2012
FUM (millions)	AU$28
Fund Overview	The Fund will primarily consist of Global listed shares, and will generally have at least 50% of its net assets invested in these. It may also have short positions in shares that the Manager believes are over-valued, and likely to fall in price, as well as long and short positions in index futures and other derivatives, fixed interest instruments, commodities, credit instruments and currencies.
Manager Comments	The Morphic Global Opportunities Fund returned 7.71% during July and 41.16% over the previous twelve months. The Fund's top contributors this month were a handful of individual stocks in a variety of countries, a basket trade in US financials, plus gains from the Manager's belief that the Australian dollar would continue to fall and that Australian and US short term interest rates would stay low for considerably longer than the market had been expecting. The main detractors to performance this month were reasonably small. The Manager had eased its way back into shoe manufacturer Crocs this month but exited again after the company made disappointing comments on its short term outlook. The Fund's Japanese home builder basket was also weak as initial results from companies in the sector proved to be lacklustre, and these shares have also now been sold. The Fund is fully invested and overweight in the US and Japan, although the latter overweight has been reduced. The Fund remains un-hedged into Australian dollars and has slowly increased its short position in the currency versus the US dollar and the Euro.
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Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund

9 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned 3.52% during July and 13.89% over the previous 12 months.

Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

7 Aug 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund returned 1.31% during July bringing it's twelve month return to 15.20%.

7 Aug 2013 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	06 August 2013
Manager	Kardinia Capital, a Bennelong Funds Management boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	July 2013
Latest Return	1.31%
Latest 6 Months	6.52%
Latest 12 Months	15.20%
Latest 24 Months	19.36%
Annualised Since Inception	14.13%
Inception Date	01 May 2006
FUM (millions)	AU$76.3
Fund Overview	The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund is an Australian domiciled equity long/short fund investing in ASX listed securities. The Fund uses some exchange traded call options and there is limited use of SPI futures contracts to hedge overall market risk. The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 30 to 40 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks in 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 10 to 15% out of the money. ASX SPI futures and index put options can be used to hedge the portfolio's overall net position.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund returned 1.31% during July bringing it's twelve month return to 15.20%. The since inception (May 2006) return is 14.13% pa. Global equity markets rallied strongly in July with the MSCI World Index up 5.2%. In the US, the Q2 reporting season began well and economic data continued to improve. Despite deteriorating domestic economic news and signs of slowing Chinese growth, the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index rose 5.3%. The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose 1.3% in July with limited Resources and small cap exposure contributing to a relatively disappointing month. CSL, EBOS, QBE Insurance and BHP Billiton performed strongly, whilst McMillan Shakespeare, Share Price Index futures contracts (hedging long positions) and Treasury Wine Estates were significant detractors from performance. Net equity market exposure (including derivatives) was progressively increased through the month to 50.8% (58.5% long and 7.7% short).
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Fund Monitors Pty Ltd

News

19 Aug 2013 - Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund

16 Aug 2013 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

16 Aug 2013 - BlackRock Australian Equity Market Neutral Fund

15 Aug 2013 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund

14 Aug 2013 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

13 Aug 2013 - Pengana Australian Equities Fund

12 Aug 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

9 Aug 2013 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund

9 Aug 2013 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund

7 Aug 2013 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund

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