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8 Jul 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors
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Report Date07 July 2013
ManagerOptimal Fund Management Australia
Fund NameOptimal Australia Absolute Trust
StrategyEquity Long/Short
Latest Return DateJune 2013
Latest Return-0.18%
Latest 6 Months0.23%
Latest 12 Months1.85%
Latest 24 Months9.88%
Annualised Since Inception11.23%
Inception Date15 September 2008
FUM (millions)AU$160
Fund OverviewThe 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 CommentsOptimal Australia's Absolute Trust returned -0.18% in June as the ASX200 Accumulation Index suffered its second successive monthly loss as investors continued to sell AUD risk assets, particularly resources and commodities, as evidenced by the All Resources Index falling a further 10% in June.

The Manager particularly noted the increasing equity market volatility, with recent daily trading ranges of over 2% significantly higher than the typical range since 2000 of around 0.9%, and the distortion on valuations created by QE policies which they believe may persist for years.

The Fund's exposure at month end was 34% long and 31% short (including derivatives) for a net exposure of just 3%, and gross of 65%, indicating the manager's favouring a low net exposure and hedged approach to managing risk.

On past performance this has served the Fund's investors well, as shown by a Sharpe Ratio since inception of 1.82, a maximum drawdown of just 1.38%, and a record of 80% positive monthly performances (Average +0.73%) when the market (average -3.88%) has fallen.



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