Hedge Fund Marketing and Fund Raising in 2014 and beyond

AIMA Australia is pleased to invite you to AIMAs next education event - Hedge Fund Marketing and Fund Raising in 2014 and beyond.

Date and Time: Wednesday 28 May 2014, 12:30 - 2pm.

Session Overview:

The panel will explore topics such as:

• Marketing and fund raising for Australian hedge funds & boutiques;
• Maintaining independence vs aligning with fund incubators / investment partners; and
• What investors are looking for?

Speakers:

Jarrod Brown - CEO, Bennelong Funds Management

John Corr - CIO, Aurora Funds

Nelson Lam - Director, Chase Corporate Advisory 

Moderator:

Zarmeen Pavri, Pengana Capital  

Speaker biographies:

Jarrod Brown - Jarrod joined Bennelong in September 2007 and has over 20 years experience in banking and funds management. He has worked across all elements of the funds management value chain in various executive positions with Standard & Poor's, IOOF Investment Management Limited and ING Australia. As Chief Executive Officer, Bennelong Funds Management, Jarrod is charged with developing Bennelong Group's asset management capability and is both the Responsible Manager and Director of various Bennelong Group companies. Jarrod holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting), Graduate Diploma (Banking & Finance), Master of Business Administration and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

John Corr - John is Chief Investment Officer of Aurora and sits on the Board of the listed Aurora Funds Limited. He has over 27 years experience in financial markets.  Prior to establishing Fortitude Capital (now part of Aurora Funds Limited), John was a Director at Citigroup Global Markets Australia. He worked in proprietary trading for eight years, trading local and overseas equities and equity derivatives, and was responsible for the management and development of a team of equity proprietary traders. From 1986 to 1995 John worked on the derivatives sales desk as a senior institutional dealer for a number of major investment banks, advising and executing for local and offshore institutions, corporates and trading houses. John is responsible for the investment management team at Aurora. He determines the appropriate portfolio structure and investment process for the investment strategies that Aurora manages. John works closely with all portfolio managers, providing direction and assessment of optimal risk opportunities. John has and continues to conduct a risk management program in Market Neutral and Derivative Strategies.  The objective is to educate and implement a systematic, repeatable process for disciplined trading strategies and portfolio management. The Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund, which John established in 2005, was awarded hedge fund of the year in 2008 and 2009 by AIMA. John holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Wollongong.

Nelson Lam  - Nelson Lam is a Director at Chase Corporate Advisory, an independent financial services specialist advisory firm, and heads up the funds management advisory practice in Chase. Prior to Chase, Nelson was Head of Investments for Ascalon Capital Managers Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Westpac Banking Group and more recently held the position of Chief Operating Officer for H3 Global Advisors, a successful Australian based hedge fund. At Ascalon, Nelson completed numerous investments and divestments of funds management business and funds and was the Chief Investment Officer for the Ascalon Seed Pool between 2006 and 2012. Nelson has held numerous Directorships on various funds management businesses and has been a member of the Australia Institute of Company Directors since 2006.

RSVP procedures

Space is limited so we recommend that you register early to avoid disappointment. Tickets are open to AIMA members and non member managers only and will be intially limited to 2 per organisation. 

Please follow the link to register.

April was a tough month at the office for Absolute Return and Hedge Fund managers based on the 70% of performance reports received to date.

While the ASX 200 Accumulation Index rose 1.77%, AFM's index of all funds lost 0.23%, with equity-based funds bearing the brunt, down an average of 0.34%. While we are used to, and would expect hedge funds to underperform in strongly rising markets, lagging by 2% and with a negative number to boot is unusual.

While the performance for a single month is disappointing, over 12 months there is little difference across all 333 funds which have gained 10.02% versus the ASX 200 accumulation index at 10.46%. Equity-based funds, which make up 60% of the total have done better, with a 12 month average return of 14.08%.

58% of fund returns to date were positive, against 90% over the past 12 months, while only 15% outperformed the ASX 200 in April, rising to 54% over 12 months.

There are probably a number of reasons for April's disappointing returns: Firstly divergences between large and small cap stocks, with the ASX 200 adding 1.7%, and the Small Cap Index falling 1.2%. As a further indication the ASX Top 20 rose 2.2% for the month, with yields once again driving this segment of the market. Although the absolute return sector is not homogenous it is fair to say that on average they have less exposure to the large end of the market, preferring to seek value down paths that are less trodden by broking analysts.

Secondly there was a sell-off in growth and tech stocks, reflecting the same scenario in the US, which have risen over the past 12 to 24 months to be on unacceptably high future earnings multiples. Once again this has been a happy hunting ground for many of Australia's smaller boutique fund managers, who have benefited significantly from positions in stocks such as Seek, Xero and REA.

Further damage was done to the small cap sector with anecdotal evidence that a couple of large institutional mandates had switched managers, and the change in portfolio holdings had damaged prices as a result of the limited liquidity at this end of the market.

It was interesting to note that some of the best performing funds, which had provided annualised terms of over 30% in the past 12 to 24 months, found April difficult and struggled to produce a positive return. We doubt that April was the start of a new trend, but was more likely to be a month in which various factors, which had previously provided some excellent returns, shifted, and the very nature of their styles will enable them to adjust accordingly.

Specific results received this week include the following PERFORMANCE and NEWS UPDATES:

The Totus Alpha Fund has returned a strong 39.11% over the last 12 month with a volatility of 16.37%.

Alpha Beta's Asian Fund recorded a return of -1.23% during April and 10.37% over the prior 12 months with a low volatility of 5.41%.

The Intelligent Investor Value Fund returned -3.44% (Small Cap Index -1.2%) in a weak small cap market with the 12 month result 18.67%.

Aurora Fortitude's Absolute Return Fund returned 0.01% in a choppy month for market neutral funds, bringing its annual return to 5.96%.

The Insync Global Titans Fund returned -1.0% in April with annual performance coming in at 15.97% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.39.

Cor Capital's Fund returned +0.51% for the month of April 2014. The total return since inception in August 2012 is 9.0% or 5.1% p.a.

FUTURE EVENTS: coming up this week

Wednesday 28 May in Sydney: Lunchtime education event presented by AIMA - the panel will explore topics such as Marketing and fund raising for Australian hedge funds & boutiques; Maintaining independence vs aligning with fund incubators / investment partners and more. Speakers include Jarrod Brown from Bennelong Funds Management and John Corr from Aurora.

28-30 May 2014 in Sydney: IBR Conferences presents the Asset Allocation Conference. This event has been designed to both update and educate investors by taking an in-depth look at these more adaptive asset allocation strategies and practices and where the best opportunities for high return lay in the current climate.

If you would like your Event listed in our calendar, please contact us.

And now for something completely different this week, I'd like this guy on my side - aged 18 and 134 kgs.

On that note, I hope you have a safe and happy weekend.

Best wishes,

Chris
CEO, AUSTRALIAN FUND MONITORS

Connect with me on LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Australian Fund Monitors are helping to raise awareness to support research into prevention and cure for cerebral palsy.  For more information visit www.cpresearch.org.au or contact me by email.

Asset Allocation 2014 Forum: 28th-30th May, Grace Hotel, Sydney

A timely landmark event designed to uncover the best approaches to asset portfolio management in an industry treading cautiously through uncertain and increasingly constrained times. This event has been designed to both update and educate investors by taking an in-depth look at these more adaptive asset allocation strategies and practices and where the best opportunities for high return lay in the current climate.

• Current and forecasted macro and micro economic outlook
• Investment opportunities in emerging markets
• Investigation of new theories and drivers in asset allocation
• Adapting to the industry's "new normal" in living with and managing risk
• Trustees perspectives in managing diversified asset portfolios
• Post-retirement portfolio development
• Reassessing the allocation mix for endowment and not-for-profit organisations
• Influence of a changing demographic landscape and how money, wealth and investment is perceived
• Fail proof guide to building and retaining investors through effective relationship management
• A close-up examination of individual asset classes and where opportunities lay and how challenges can be overcome
• General law, statute, regulation and prudential standards impacting on a superannuation funds investing in unlisted assets

Dates: 28th - 30th May 2014
Time: 8:30am - 5:30pm
Location: Grace Hotel, Sydney

Click here to download the brochure for more details.

To register for the conference please download the brochure and fax the form to us or you can email us on [email protected] or give us a call:

Registrations Manager
IBR Conferences Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 (0) 2 9896 0776 | Fax: +61 (0) 2 9896 0796 | [email protected] | http://www.ibrc.com.au