News
Pengana Asia Special Events (Onshore) Fund
24 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Pengana Asia Special Events(Onshore)Fund recorded -0.92% during June bringing its twelve month return to 10.65%.
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24 Jul 2013 - Pengana Asia Special Events (Onshore) Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | Paramount to achieving this goal was the Fund's stringent risk management overlay and the Alpha-/Event opportunities that the Fund was exploiting despite volatile market conditions. In April, a fall in commodity prices, led by the unexpected collapse of gold prices, resulted in significant volatility in the resource stocks during the month. None of the risk arbitrage spreads the Fund was involved in, were affected by the unprecedented collapse of gold prices. In May and June, volatility across all asset classes spiked and equity markets reacted negatively to digest expected tapering of quantitative easing in the US, slowing growth in China and resulting flight of capital from emerging markets. The Fund's negative performance in June can be primarily attributed to our gross exposure allocation within capital management and earnings surprises sub-strategies which have a relatively higher volatility profile during market dislocations. The Fund also observed temporary dislocation of certain M&A spreads which we expect to self-correct in the coming months as the transactions near completion. Tactically, the Fund used the market dislocation to align the portfolio towards ideas which have extremely low downside potential, while eliminating positions which have a "softer" event profile. The Fund maintained a healthy average gross exposure of 167%, which reflects the vast opportunity set across Asian Events, whilst keeping a very low net exposure (market risk) averaging 10.3%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
23 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund returned 0.46% during June and has had only two negative months over the last year.
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23 Jul 2013 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce positive returns irrespective of the direction of the share market. For each investment the manager considers the risk, the timeline of that risk occurring and then the potential return. Low transaction costs and liquidity are other important factors in the success and implementation of the strategies. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's risk profile is notable with an annualised standard deviation of 2.81% pa as compared to the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Acc with 14.42% pa. The since inception (May 2005) Sharpe ratio of 1.16 and Sortino of 2.35 are also high compared to the equity benchmark ratios of 0.16 and 0.12 respectively. As expected in this type of environment the Fund's Option portfolio was a significant contributor (+0.20%). ASX Limited's renounceable rights issue provided some profitable trading opportunities. The Fund actively traded the de-merger of News Corporation into New Newscorp and Twenty‐First Century Fox and expects to continue to generate positive returns. The Convergence strategy (+0.30%) also benefited from an improvement in the relative value of Wesfarmers Partly Protected Shares over Wesfarmers Ordinary Shares. This position remains the Fund's largest exposure. |
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Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund
22 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund returned 5.00% during June as compared to the Fund's benchmark return (S&P/ASX 300) of -2.4%.
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22 Jul 2013 - Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The manager's investment approach is premised on the belief that fundamental factors (such as earnings, cash flow and profit growth) affect stock prices, but that the adoption of quantitative techniques (i.e. computer based models) provides an advantage in assimilating and analysing this information, and building an efficient portfolio. The Fund's portfolio is constructed to be market neutral i.e. it aims to have little or no overall exposure to movements in the equity market. The aim of low exposure to market movements is to enhance the consistency of the portfolio's performance and to provide diversification from other market oriented investments. |
| Manager Comments | This has been achieved with low volatility (as measured by standard deviation) of 8.1% p.a., around half the volatility of the equity market. In addition, the Fund has recorded no correlation (-0.03) to equities. The four fundamental investment factors in our stock selection model, namely Revisions, Value, Quality and Momentum all had positive returns over the quarter. While the Revisions factor provided consistent performance over the quarter, April was largely driven by the Momentum factor which has been the dominant investment theme for the most of this year. While the market paid little attention to our Value and Quality factors in May, these reasserted themselves in June. |
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Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund
19 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund returned a solid 8.32% during June bringing its six month return to 18.11%.
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19 Jul 2013 - Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund focuses on fundamental long and short investments. The Fund may utilise a multi-strategy approach if short term opportunities to increase returns, hedge the portfolio, protect capital or minimise volatility are found. The Fund is a high conviction fund and the combined portfolio will typically have 25-45 positions, investing primarily in stocks in the ASX200. The Fund may be net long, short or neutral depending on the strategies employed at the time. The Fund may hold cash so that it is in a position to take advantage of market volatility and compelling investment opportunities as and when they arise. The Fund may be geared up to 200% gross long or short and up to 150% net long or short. |
| Manager Comments | Average gross capital employed by the Fund was 172.5% long and 55.7% short. At the end of the month the Fund had 25 long positions and 15 short positions. The Fund's biggest exposures at month end were spread across the consumer discretionary, financials, healthcare, telecommunications, utilities and materials sectors. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
19 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for BKARF, showing KPI's for June 2013 vs ASX200, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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19 Jul 2013 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund (pdf format)
BENNELONG KARDINIA ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review. You are also able to view the Fund's Profile.
Key points regarding the Fund are:
- Kardinia is a boutique Australian based Fund Manager established in August 2011 in conjunction with the Bennelong Group to continue the management of the Herschel Absolute Return Fund.
- Long biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies with a six year track record and an annualised return of 14.10% net of fees.
- Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder have significant market experience, while the Bennelong Group provide infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution capabilities.
- Consistent top decile long short equity sector performance with Key Performance and Risk Statistics indicating an attractive risk/reward profile. There is a strong focus on capital protection in negative markets.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund (pdf format)
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
18 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust, showing KPI's for June 2013 vs ASX200 Acc, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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18 Jul 2013 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust (pdf format)
OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Optimal Australia Absolute Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- Optimal Australia is a specialist Australian equity investment manager established in 2008.
- The Fund's long/short equity strategy portfolio typically has a low but variable net market exposure comprising 40 to 65 stock broadly selected from within the ASX200.
- The investment team comprising George Colman, Peter Whiting and Stephen Nicholls have close to 90 years combined experience in equity markets.
- Consistent out-performance of the market: Approximately 84 % of monthly performances have been positive with a largest drawdown of -1.38%.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust (pdf format)
Pengana Australian Equities Fund
17 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Pengana Australian Equities Fund returned -2.50% during June with cash (including notes and preference shares) representing 29% of the Fund at month-end.
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17 Jul 2013 - Pengana Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The top five holdings by value were: DUET Group, ANZ Bank, Telstra, Resmed and Tatts. The largest positive contributors to the quarter's performance included Fox Group (formerly News Corporation), ANZ Bank, Ainsworth Gaming and our holdings in US Dollars. There were several large detractors including ANZ Bank, NAB, Seven Group Holdings, DUET Group, Woolworths, Mermaid Marine and Telstra. The Fund acquired two new holdings, namely the global plasma fractionator CSL and a NZ-based aged care company, Summerset. In addition, the Fund took advantage of the lower prices to add to existing holdings in Mermaid Marine, Caltex, Woolworths, DUET Group and Telstra. 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 20%. The Fund disposed of its holding in Fairfax and AMP and took advantage of higher prices to lighten its exposure to Seven Group, Ainsworth Gaming, and McMillan Shakespeare. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: AFM Prism Active Equity Fund
17 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for the AFM Prism Active Equity Fund, showing KPI's for May 2013 with breakdown by portfolio, Fund Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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17 Jul 2013 - Fund Review: AFM Prism Active Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Prism Active Equity Fund - May 2013 (pdf format)
AFM PRISM ACTIVE EQUITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the AFM Prism Active Equity Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
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The Prism Active Equity Fund ("PAEF" or "Prism") comprises a portfolio of 5 to 10 underlying Australian absolute return managers each investing in ASX listed equities.
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The Fund's objective is to achieve double-digit annualised returns with significantly lower volatility than the underlying equity markets, with a focus on capital protection.
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Fund selection is made based on a combination of quantitative analysis of past performance and risk, coupled with extensive analysis and due diligence of the underlying manager's processes and pedigree.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Prism Active Equity Fund - May 2013 (pdf format)
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
16 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund, showing KPI's for June 2013 vs ASX200, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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16 Jul 2013 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund (pdf format)
BENNELONG LONG SHORT EQUITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- Research driven, market and sector neutral, "pairs" trading strategy investing primarily in large cap stocks from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with a ten year track record and annualised net returns of over 20% .
- Portfolio Manager Richard Fish has over 25 years market experience, while Bennelong Funds Management, who have over $4.5 billion in FUM across various funds, provide infrastructure, operational and compliance functions.
- The Fund's Investment history commenced in January 2002 and has positive annual returns each year, including an 11.95% return in 2008 and 20.6% in 2011, both of which were negative years for the ASX200.
- 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.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund (pdf format)
Totus Alpha Fund
15 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Totus Alpha Fund returned 7.21% during June bringing its annualised return since inception (Apr 2012) to 24.8%.
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15 Jul 2013 - Totus Alpha Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund is a long/short investment fund principally investing in listed entities, commodities, futures and options in Australia and internationally. The Fund is not a market neutral fund and accordingly may switch between net long positions and net short positions. The Fund may use short sales and derivatives as determined by Totus Capital. Gearing may be used to enhance returns and the Fund may be geared in excess of 100% of the Fund's Net Asset Value. There is a limit to net exposure of 150%. |
| Manager Comments | Markets remained volatile in June with a number of asset classes (e.g. gold, bonds) reacting violently to news that the US Federal Reserve was considering \'tapering\' its program of quantitative easing (QE). That trend has continued into July with markets reacting just as violently to news this week that the Fed may not be \'tapering\' after all. This kind of volatility can present opportunities for a nimble absolute return fund. The Manager is sticking to their general investment road-map which is as follows: •Global growth remains subdued, an environment that should suit \'big and boring\' companies (long positions) over \'small and sexy\' ones (short positions). • Even if QE is not ending it may be reaching the limits of its effectiveness in some regions. • The mining boom in Australia is over and as such so is the era of a high Aussie dollar and Australia's (relatively) high interest rates. • Gaining exposure to the US economy and the US$ (at least in a relative sense). |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
