NEWS
APN Asian REIT Fund
11 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
APN Asian REIT Fund rose 3.12% for the month of April, outperforming the Bloomberg Asia REIT Index which returned 1.98%, by 1.14%.
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11 May 2017 - APN Asian REIT Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Pete Morrissey and Corrine Ng are the Portfolio Managers of the Fund. Morrissey has over 15 years financial markets experience and joined APN in 2006. Previously, he worked at Lonsec and also managed an internationally focused private investment fund as well as spending several years as an analyst in the UK for Nomura, amongst others. He has also completed Masters level academic research papers on both commercial real estate cycles and global property cycles. Ng also has a strong background in property and REITs in Australia, Asia and the North American markets. Prior to joining APN, Ng worked for Aviva Investors (Senior Investment Analyst, North America Real Estate Securities Team) and Goldman Sachs & Co (Vice President, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Real Estate Securities Team) in New York. The Fund aims to deliver a competitive yield with lower risk than the market. The underlying stocks are selected based on a highly disciplined investment approach that focuses on the fundamentals and number of valuation approaches. The universe is expected to be dynamic as new IPO's, other corporate actions take place and / or corporate governance improvements at country or REIT level bring new stocks into focus. The Fund focuses on passive rental earnings derived from well managed Asian REITs listed in mature capital markets and will not invest in infrastructure, property development companies or stocks with a 'loose association with property'. The Fund provides access to a wide spread of property-based revenue streams that are specifically analysed, selected and weighted with the aim of delivering strong and sustainable income returns. The Fund is an unhedged product. The Fund is suited to medium to long term investors seeking a relatively high income and some capital growth over the long term. |
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Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
11 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Optimal Australia Absolute Trust reported a net return of +0.07% in April 2017, to take the annualised return since inception to 8.08% p.a.
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11 May 2017 - 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 | The Fund's long investments generated around 30bps of return, on average long exposure of 58% of NAV. Many of the long investments are heavily weighted to stocks that have little dependence on the domestic economy or are otherwise desynchronised from it, including offshore financials Clydesdale and Henderson, CSL, Orocobre, and even Woolworths. The stock shorts and the short index futures position both cost the Fund, slightly more than 10 bps of performance, but the investment team believes that it is crucial to have portfolio insurance after a year of such stellar market gains. |
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Allard Investment Fund
10 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Allard Investment Fund (AIF) increased 2.23% during the month of April 2017 and is up 21.51% for the latest 12 months.
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10 May 2017 - Allard Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Allard's investment approach has remained consistent throughout their history: That is to invest prudently but proactively in well-managed businesses that achieve superior returns on capital in industries with long-term growth potential. The Manager uses both broad top-down guidance and detailed bottom-up analysis to identify suitable markets, industries and companies. Although long only investors, a critical factor in their strategy and performance is the ability to hold cash when they cannot find companies that meet their criteria or are at a sufficient discount to their valuations. |
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KIS Asia Long Short Fund
9 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
KIS Asia Long Short Fund returned -1.59% in April, taking the return for the most recent 12 months to 8.51%.
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9 May 2017 - KIS Asia Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 | The main winner for the month, producing 27bp on the return, came from a short in Metcash (MTS.AX) whose share price suffered on concerns of supermarket price wars and Aldi's expansion. The Fund also made money on two of its long positions in BBMG Corp (2009.HK) and Altium Ltd (ALU.AX), both contributing 22bp each. The Fund, however, suffered a loss of -101bp from its long position in Range International Ltd (RAN.AX) and another -23bp from its the long position in Cardinal Resources Ltd (CDV.AX). |
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Quay Global Real Estate Fund
8 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Quay Global Real Estate Fund rose 3.89% for April 2017, outperforming the global real estate (FTSE/ EPRA NAREIT Developed Index Net TR AUD) which returned 3.11%, by 0.78%.
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8 May 2017 - Quay Global Real Estate Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund will invest in a number of global listed real estate companies, groups or funds. The investment strategy is to make investments in real estate securities at a price that will deliver a real, after inflation, total return of 5% per annum (before costs and fees), inclusive of distributions over a longer-term period. The Investment Strategy is indifferent to the constraints of any index benchmarks and is relatively concentrated in its number of investments. The Fund is expected to own between 20 and 40 securities, and from time to time up to 20% of the portfolio maybe invested in cash. The Fund is $A un-hedged. |
| Manager Comments | Safestore (UK) and Hansteen (UK) were the strongest contributors to the Fund, both assisted by a recovering GBP. Multifamily/apartments (17.7%), Storage (12.8%) and Industrial (11.8%) were the most heavily weighted sectors in the portfolio. During the month, cash holdings reduced from the prior month's 10% to around 5.2% as better entry prices or new opportunities emerged in the market for the investment. |
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Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
5 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund rose 5.84% for the month of April, outperforming the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index, which returned 1.03%, by +4.81%.
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5 May 2017 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | In a typical environment the Fund will hold around 70 stocks comprising 35 pairs. Each pair contains one long and one short position each of which will have been thoroughly researched and are selected from the same market sector. Whilst in an ideal environment each stock's position will make a positive return, it is the relative performance of the pair that is important. As a result the Fund can make positive returns when each stock moves in the same direction provided the long position outperforms the short one in relative terms. However, if neither side of the trade is profitable, strict controls are required to ensure losses are limited. The Fund uses no derivatives and has no currency exposure. The Fund has no hard stop loss limits, instead relying on the small average position size per stock (1.5%) and per pair (3%) to limit exposure. Where practical pairs are always held within the same sector to limit cross sector risk, and positions can be held for months or years. The Bennelong Market Neutral Fund, with same strategy and liquidity is available for retail investors as a Listed Investment Company (LIC) on the ASX. |
| Manager Comments | Performance was broad based with a high ratio of profit vs loss making pairs (19 out of 30). The Fund's top three spreads for the month were long Harvey Norman (HVN) / short Meyer (MYR) and Metcash (MTS), long Aristrocrat (ALL) / short Tabcorp (TAH) and long Ramsay Health (RHC) / short Primary (PRY) and Healthscope (HSO). So far this year, unlike the second half of last year, the investment team has been observing performance mainly being driven by stock fundamentals, rather than thematic factors. |
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Insync Global Titans Fund
4 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund increased 2.4% in March, outperforming the MSCI All Country World ex-Australia Net Total Return Index ($A), which returned 2%, by +0.4%.
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4 May 2017 - 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 the holdings in BAT, Oracle, Unilever, Microsoft and Heineken. The main negative contributors were eBay and Thermo Fisher Scientific. 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. Over 50% of the Fund is currently protected using the put protection strategy. |
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Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
3 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund returned -1.15% for the month of March, compared to Asia Pacific markets which posted a return of 1.3%.
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3 May 2017 - Pengana Absolute Return Asia Pacific Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund will usually hold 40 to 80 positions and will be well diversified across the various event strategies. In keeping with the absolute return focus the Manager will eliminate market risk where appropriate by hedging market and foreign currency risks. Since inception the Fund has averaged a net equity market exposure of ~10%. Sizing of an investment position will depend on the expected risk adjusted returns while taking account the liquidity and volatility of the stock. In addition, the maximum potential loss on any one position should be greater than 0.5% of the NAV and the position should not exceed 30% participation of stressed volume assuming a $200m NAV. Other criteria considered are ability to hedge and the availability of pair candidates as well as the average bid-ask size. For M&A strategies average long position is 3 to 5.5% and average short position 2 to 5%. |
| Manager Comments | The M&A sub-strategy posted a positive performance of +0.4%, bringing the total return for the current year to 2.8%. The biggest positive contributor of 0.15% was from the position in Yingde Gases. Within Capital Management, the bulk of the negative performance was due to the short position in Kaisa. After a 2-year trading suspension, the stock resumed trading with an uptick of 60%, forcing the Fund to cover its short position. In the Holding Company strategy, the positions in Jardine Matheson / Jardine Strategic and Wharf / Wheelock also underperformed. During the month, the Fund's net and gross exposures averaged 15.7% and 229.6% respectively. |
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Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
2 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Touchstone Index Unaware Fund slightly outperformed the market over the month, advancing by +3.38% versus the Index return of +3.32%.
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2 May 2017 - Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The portfolio is constructed using Touchstone's Quality-At-a-Reasonable-Price ('QARP') investment process. QARP is a fundamental bottom-up process, however, it also incorporates a top-down risk management framework designed to successfully manage the portfolio during varying market conditions and economic cycles. The Touchstone Fund is concentrated, typically holding between 15-20 stocks. No individual stock will ever make up more than 10% of the portfolio at any one time. The Investment Manager may temporarily exceed the exposure limits of the Fund occasionally, particularly during periods of market volatility, to allow for holdings in excess of this 10% limit where the increase in value of the underlying security is due to market movement. The Fund may also hold between 0-50% of the portfolio in cash. The Fund has a high level of associated risk, therefore, the minimum suggested investment time-frame is 5 years. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund benefited from its holding in Star Entertainment (+12.1% mom, +7.4% qoq) which has risen steadily since its interim result in February. QBE Insurance (+7.5% mom, +6.5% qoq) also rallied higher for the month. The main detractor for the month was Trade Me Group (-3.0% mom, -2.4% qoq), which was impacted as its largest shareholder sold down part of its stake in the company. Resmed (-0.8% mom, +8.8% qoq) was also a negative contributor, due to the concerns around continuing production delays for its new mask range. The investment team regards both these companies as attractive investment options and therefore continue to hold them in the portfolio. With the current political risks elevated globally, combined with market uncertainties, the investment team remains focused on downside protection. |
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Fund Review: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund March 2017
1 May 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund is now available.
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1 May 2017 - Fund Review: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund March 2017
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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BENNELONG TWENTY20 AUSTRALIAN EQUITIES FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund.
- The Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund invests in ASX listed stocks, combining an indexed position in the Top 20 stocks with an actively managed portfolio of stocks outside the Top 20. Construction of the ex-top 20 portfolio is fundamental, bottom-up, core investment style, biased to quality stocks, with a structured risk management approach.
- Mark East, the Fund's Chief Investment Officer, and Keith Kwang, Director of Quantitative Research have over 50 years combined market experience. Bennelong Funds Management (BFM) provides the investment manager, Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP) with infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution services.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - March 2017 (pdf format)
