NEWS
Fund Review: Supervised High Yield Fund May 2015
9 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Fund review on Supervised High Yield Fund, a fixed income fund, is now available.
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9 Jul 2015 - Fund Review: Supervised High Yield Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
SUPERVISED HIGH YIELD FUND
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- The Supervised High Yield Fund (SHYF) has a 6 year track record investing in fixed interest investments. The Investment strategy aims to deliver returns with zero correlation to equity markets by investing in debt securities with minimal default probability and offering a premium return above the risk free rate.
- The Fund is managed by Philip Carden whose experience in debt and capital markets spans 33 years, including time with JB Were's Capel Court Securities and Macquarie Bank, where he was the Executive Director responsible for the Debt Markets Division.
- SHYF is an Alternative Income fund which invests in Global and Australian debt markets, with all foreign currency receivables hedged back to Australian dollars.
- The Fund utilises a top down analysis of the economic environment and market to screen and identify debt market opportunities which it believes offer low risk with high yield. The next stage is the development of a risk matrix and investment strategy, following which detailed research is undertaken on specific investment opportunities which meet the pre-defined criteria established in the investment strategy.
- Prior to approving an investment for the Fund each potential investment is subject to two stress tests. The first of these is for credit and default risk, in which the investment is stress-tested to ensure that in a worst case economic environment it can repay 100% of its principal and interest obligations case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided The second test examines market risk. In this case Carden looks at the worst case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided.
Monash Absolute Investment Fund
8 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Monash Absolute Investment Fund fell 1.9% in June, and the Australian equity market was very weak; the top 100 was down over 5% and the small cap index down over 8%.
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8 Jul 2015 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The fund seeks to identify opportunities in the share market to make positive returns (long and short) irrespective of market conditions. It is style agnostic, as compelling investment opportunities exist across all investment styles from time to time. The Fund places a high priority on capital preservation, and has an absolute return focus in accepting market risk. The Manager's experience across value, growth and discounted cash flow styles allows them to use a comprehensive approach to investment decisions that applies all three. They also have the patience to seek out only compelling opportunities, rather than settling for relative value. The portfolio is somewhat concentrated, looking to diversify across industries and themes, rather than by trying to stay near an index. The portfolio may at times have a large amount of cash or other protection. However once investments are made turnover may be relatively high in order to lock in gains and avoid losses. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's performance since inception was 14.11% p.a. with annual volatility of 7.79%, bringing the Sharpe ratio and Sortino ratio to 1.54 and 3.12 respectively. The Fund continues to have a low Beta and therefore less volatile than the market. The portfolio had 71% net exposure and 82% gross exposure. Click the link below to the rest of the Fund Manager's Report. |
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Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund May 2015
7 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Insync Global Titans Fund is now available.
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7 Jul 2015 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund AFM Fund Review May 2015 (pdf format)
INSYNC GLOBAL TITANS FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Insync Global Titans Fund.
We would like to highlight the following:
- The Fund's unit price increased by 3.0% during the month of May. The performance was driven by positive contributions from our holdings in Time Warner Cable, Experian, Medtronic, eBay and Zimmer. The main negative contributors were Hugo Boss and Publicis. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside.
- The Global Titans Fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 15-30 stocks, targeting exceptional, large cap global companies with a strong focus on dividend growth and downside protection.
- Portfolio selection is driven by a core strategy of investing in companies with sustainable growth in dividends, high returns on capital, positive free cash flows and strong balance sheets.
- Emphasis on limiting downside risk is through extensive company research, the ability to hold cash and long protective index put options.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Insync Global Titans Fund AFM Fund Review May 2015 (pdf format)
Fund Review: Totus Alpha Fund May 2015
6 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
May Fund Review with key statistics for Totus Alpha Fund now available.
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6 Jul 2015 - Fund Review: Totus Alpha Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund AFM Fund Review May 2015 (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 23.31% since inception in March 2012 as compared to 14.43% for the ASX 200 Accumulation Index. The standard deviation has been higher than the Index at 13.39% as compared to 11.05% and the Sharpe ratio is 1.44.
Sean Webster
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund AFM Fund Review May 2015 (pdf format)
Supervised High Yield Fund
3 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Supervised High Yield Fund rose 1.04% during May to bring the Fund's annual return since inception to 10.22%. In the same time frame the RBA Cash Rate returned 3.45%.
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3 Jul 2015 - Supervised High Yield Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The fund may also invest in interest rate swaps, options over authorized investments and exchange traded futures contracts. All these will be either listed or traded in a market where they can be independently valued. Fundamental to the investment procedure is the tenet that no debt security will qualify for investment unless it can repay 100% of its principal and interest in a worst case economic scenario. |
| Manager Comments | More than half of the portfolio's composition was in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) at 61.28%. The rest of the portfolio was divided in the following sectors: US Corporate Loans at 28.68%, Cash at 6.11% and AUD Corporate Loans at 3.94%. Click below to view the latest Fund Manager Report. |
| More Information |
Signature Quantitative Fund
2 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Signature Quantitative Fund returned -1.20% for May, to bring the annual performance since inception to 11.34%.
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2 Jul 2015 - Signature Quantitative Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | SQF has been established to profit from anomalies surrounding event driven, behavioural & factor based structural market inefficiencies which generate significant profits and are uncorrelated & persistent over time. Specific strategies such as dividend arbitrage, index addition and deletion, tax year end, capital raisings, among other strategies are used by the Fund. The Fund's initial focus is on investing in Australian and New Zealand markets. |
| Manager Comments | In May, the Alpha Capture and Capital Raisings strategies under-performed. Long positions in banks and short in resources contributed the most to the under-performance in Alpha Capture. The Dividend Arbitrage Strategy under-performed slightly also due to banks exposure around bank ex-dates. The Tax Year End Effect got off to a slow start in May, however the Fund expects this to bounce back in June when the strongest returns usually occur. The Index Rebalance Strategy slightly outperformed on relatively few trades. Click the link below to view the latest Monthly Report. |
| More Information |
Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund May 2015
2 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review now available on Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund, which has over 6 years of track record and annualised return of 11.45%.
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2 Jul 2015 - Fund Review Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
PENGANA ABSOLUTE RETURN ASIA PACIFIC FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund.
- The Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund ("PARAP") was established in 2008 by portfolio managers Antonio Meroni and Vikas Kumra. The Fund is a feeder fund into a Cayman Islands AUD share class fund.
- The Fund invests both long and short in Asia Pacific equities, including in Australian and New Zealand, after a stock specific "event" has either occurred or been announced and the portfolio aims to be uncorrelated to the underlying equity markets. A combination of the Manager's experience, thorough research and continuous back- testing identify the most attractive of these events.
- Risk controls include limits on individual positions as well as gross and net exposure. Limits are in place for option exposure and cash borrowing, with stop loss limits on individual positions. Overall the manager is looking to derive returns from the event strategies as opposed to any currency or market exposures.
- The Fund finished +1% for the month, compared to the HFR Event Driven Index which closed +0.5%. Since inception, the Fund has an annualised return of 11.45% compared to the AFM's Asia Pacific Index of 6.56%. The Fund has achieved this with lower volatility of 5.74% (Index 11.82%).
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Insync Global Titans Fund
1 Jul 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund increased by 3.0% in May, bringing the Fund's prior 12 month performance to 20.79%.
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1 Jul 2015 - Insync Global Titans Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Insync employs four simple screens to narrow the universe of over 40,000 listed companies globally to a focus group of high quality companies that it believes have the potential to consistently grow their profits and dividends. These screens are size of the company, balance sheet performance, valuation and dividend quality. Companies that pass this due diligence process are then valued using dividend discount models, free cash flow yield and proprietary implied growth and expected return models. The end result is a high conviction portfolio of typically 15-30 stocks. The principal investments will be in shares of companies listed on international stock exchanges (including the US, Europe and Asia). The Fund may also hold cash, derivatives (for example futures, options and swaps), currency contracts, American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts. The Fund may also invest in various types of international pooled investment vehicles. At times, Insync may consider holding higher levels of cash if valuations are full and it is difficult to find attractive investment opportunities. When Insync believes markets to be overvalued, it may hold part of its resources in cash, or use derivatives as a way of reducing its equity exposure. Insync may use options, futures and other derivatives to reduce risk or gain exposure to underlying physical investments. The Fund may purchase put options on market indices or specific stocks to hedge against losses caused by declines in the prices of stocks in its portfolio. |
| Manager Comments | The performance was driven by positive contributions from our holdings in Time Warner Cable, Experian, Medtronic, eBay and Zimmer. The main negative contributors were Hugo Boss and Publicis. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager Report. |
| More Information |
Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund May 2015
30 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest fund review now available for the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund, which has one of the most risk averse Key Performance Statistics of any fund in AFM's database.
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30 Jun 2015 - Fund Review: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AURORA FORTITUDE ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
- 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 85% of monthly performances have been positive with no losing months in 2008, the Fund's largest drawdown is -2.09% and the Sharpe ratio 1.06.
- ASX listed Aurora Funds Limited was established on the merger of three existing fund management businesses, managing approx. $230m on behalf of more than 2,500 retail and wholesale investors.
Totus Alpha Fund
30 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund was down 1.80% in May, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation Index's 0.40%. However the Fund's annual performance of 23.31% p.a has been strong (Index 14.43% p.a.).
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30 Jun 2015 - 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. 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 | At the end of May, the fund had a net exposure of 59.70% and a gross exposure of 295.0%. The fund was diversified across a number investment themes and geographies with 123 positions (53 long and 70 short). Top contributors in May were the long positions in Sirtex +1.23% (Scarce Growth),Macquarie +0.53% (Financial Services) and Flight Centre +0.49% (Scarce Growth). Biggest detractors were our long position in REA -1.10% (Online), and short positions in Orica -0.73% (Mining Capex) and Sirius -0.65% (Commodities). Click below to read the latest Fund's Monthly Report. |
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