NEWS
Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
11 Jul 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong's market neutral fund gains 8.47% in June as both long and short portfolios contribute
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11 Jul 2012 - Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Given the market's performance over the past 12 months the Fund's return of over 13% in difficult conditions continues to place it close to the top of AFM's rankings over most time frames. Bennelong recognises that the markets have the ability to rally over the short term given the underweight position of many investors and the potential for further central bank stimulus. However, the manager does not see conditions leading to any meaningful rally in growth assets, and sees further potential for earnings downgrades. Caution remains. |
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Performance Report: K2 Australian Absolute Return Fund
6 Jul 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
K2 lifts net exposure to a more neutral level, but retains minimum 30% cash exposure as investor confidence remains challenged
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6 Jul 2012 - Performance Report: K2 Australian Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | - The Fund is managed 'opportunistically'. Investments are made throughout Australia and New Zealand across sectors that the investment team believes will add greatest value. - Typically the Fund will hold between 50 and 70 listed equities. - If deemed appropriate, the Fund may be 100% invested in cash. - To implement the Fund's Long/Short investment strategy, K2 is able to use leverage or gear the Fund. However, the net invested position of the Fund shall not exceed the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the Fund. |
| Manager Comments | On the long side the Fund increased exposure to NAB as it looks to run off its UK commercial real estate portfolio, and BHP on the basis that it is offering a fully franked trailed dividend yield that is 0.5% higher than the Australian 10 yr bond rate, and in spite of falling commodity prices on the Chinese growth outlook. Meanwhile the Fund intends to hold a minimum exposure to cash of 30%, believing that although there is real value in equities a large proportion of investors will remain on the sidelines until the European bond markets stabilise and corporate earnings plateau. |
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Performance Report: QIC Asia Pacific Market Neutral Fund A$ Class
14 Jun 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
QIC's Asia Pacific Market Neutral Fund produces strong result of +3.16% in May as the MSCI Asia Pacific (ex Japan) index falls 11%
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14 Jun 2012 - Performance Report: QIC Asia Pacific Market Neutral Fund A$ Class
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Risk aversion continued to build over the month as political instability continued in Europe, soft economic data came out of China and the possibility of Greece exiting the Euro again made headlines. By the last week of the month equity markets were reeling as investors continued to take risk off the table. In this risk averse environment QIC's quant strategies performed well, with long momentum, analyst sentiment and value factor models all contributing to varying degrees in different geographic markets. Beta driven factors understandably detracted from performance. |
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Performance Report: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
13 Jun 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Aurora Fortitude provides a positive May return of 0.26% with the Options book providing the bulk of the returns
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13 Jun 2012 - Performance Report: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Aurora's Options portfolio provided the bulk of the returns as expected in the above environment, with the book heavily weighted towards financials given the large exposure to the sector in the Yield and parts of the M&A book. Elsewhere gains in the Yield book were offset by negative returns in the M&A book pending the outcome of various deals, while small gains in the Convergence book were offset by losses in the Long/Short book. The positive return takes the Fund's winning streak to 11 months, and it remains the only fund to have recorded positive returns for every month of 2008. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
12 Jun 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Long/Short fund returns +1.19% in a volatile month against the ASX200\\\\'s fall of over 7% as two profit warnings assisted the short book.
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12 Jun 2012 - Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The manager, Richard Fish reported that performance was in line with expectations, producing a modest gain in a volatile environment with both long and short cyclical names impacted by the weak market sentiment. At the sector level Healthcare and Industrials added most to performance whilst Media and Materials detracted. Looking forward Fish noted that in the short term Bennelong expect sentiment to remain hostage to events out of Europe, the domestic earnings reporting season and the ability of China to engineer a soft landing. |
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Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
8 Jun 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia weathers May's market storm thanks to prior caution and a focus on capital preservation
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8 Jun 2012 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | Optimal are cautious at the best of times, considering preservation of capital to be of the highest priority. As such they had reduced their net exposure coming into May to less than 10%, and then focused on stock selection to avoid the market's turmoil. Looking forward Optimal consider these conditions to be as difficult as they can remember in the past 25 years, and continue to focus on risk management. Having returned 7% over the past 12 months and outperforming the market by close to 15% in that time this approach has served their investors well. |
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Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
18 Apr 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia's onshore fund returns +0.46% in March as the Manager reflects on the difficulties of reading the market.
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18 Apr 2012 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | Ever cautious, and in spite of the Fund returning close to 8% over the past 12 months and significantly outperforming the ASX, the Manager considers that equity markets remain difficult to read, citing persistent earnings downgrades, growing concern about China's growth and heightened political uncertainty. Optimal note that equity market bulls continue to argue that local valuations are undemanding in absolute and relative terms, but consider this to be the case only if the forecast earnings supporting the valuations materialise. However, the Manager points out that industrial earnings have declined in aggregate for four successive years as a result of consumer de-leveraging and as the high AUD has cut manufacturing margins. Optimal's caution and risk aversion is apparent in their performance, having only succumbed to negative monthly return on three occasions since launching the Fund in September 2008. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
17 Apr 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong's Kardinia Capital returns +1.82% in March, opens to retail investors and offers daily liquidity as it approaches a six year track record
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17 Apr 2012 - Performance Report: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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. The Fund was launched on 17th August 2011 following the resignation of Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder from Herschel Asset Management in late July 2011. While at Herschel Burgess and Rehder had managed the Fund under the name of the Herschel Absolute Return Fund. As a result management of the Fund was transferred to Kardinia Capital, a new boutique fund manager 65% owned by Burgess and Rehder, with the balance owned by Bennelong Funds Management. The Fund's investment strategy and prior track record remains intact. |
| Manager Comments | In addition to opening to retail investors and lowering the minimum investment, Kardinia is also moving to daily liquidity for all investors, offering a point of difference with the majority of wholesale absolute return funds which remain on monthly terms. Kardinia Capital was formed in August 2011 to manage the Fund which was previously under the Herschel brand. Since the move the Fund has seen steady inflows which should increase as the Fund approaches a six year track record of positive annual returns, and as the investor base widens. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
16 Apr 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong's long short equity fund returns 6.35% in March as gains on both longs and shorts aids the recovery from February's decline
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16 Apr 2012 - Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The best performing sector for the month for the Fund was Consumer discretionary, closely followed by Healthcare, while stock selection in the Financial sector detracted from performance, as did Industrials. Looking forward Bennelong believe the market is unlikely to continue its move higher after the strong March quarter, and given the soft domestic economic environment and their assessment of the profit outlook they believe that risk continues to lie on the downside. Leverage at month end was 4.6 times, slightly higher than the fund's long term average, and remains closed to new investors. |
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Performance Report: KIS Asia Long Short Fund
15 Mar 2012 - Australian Fund Monitors
KIS Asian Fund up 2.89% in February with long/short book generating the majority of the the return
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15 Mar 2012 - Performance Report: KIS Asia Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 1. Markets change and evolve, constantly stressing quantitative models. They believe their discretionary approach to portfolio management is the most appropriate manner to manage their wealth and their client's wealth. 2. Their platform and mandate allows them to achieve the scale, access and diversification needed to deliver high quality risk adjusted returns. 3. They believe, 'To achieve superior investment results, your insight into value has to be superior. Thus you must learn things others don't, see things differently or do a better job of analysing them -ideally, all three.' Howard Marks, Founder, Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree Capital Management is a global investment management corporation with USD82b of assets under management). |
| Manager Comments | KIS remain wary of the downside risks caused by the ongoing repercussions from the Greek debt restructuring as well as potential for further tensions between Israel and Iran. However, in the absence of these the manager expects equity markets to continue to perform, although probably not as strongly as in the first two months of the year. In this environment KIS believe that as the macro issues subside, stock-picking will be rewarded which will benefit the Fund's investment process, although they will reduce risk again if this does not eventuate. |
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