News
Totus Alpha Fund
15 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Totus Alpha Fund returned 7.21% during June bringing its annualised return since inception (Apr 2012) to 24.8%.
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15 Jul 2013 - 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 as determined by Totus Capital. 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 | Markets remained volatile in June with a number of asset classes (e.g. gold, bonds) reacting violently to news that the US Federal Reserve was considering \'tapering\' its program of quantitative easing (QE). That trend has continued into July with markets reacting just as violently to news this week that the Fed may not be \'tapering\' after all. This kind of volatility can present opportunities for a nimble absolute return fund. The Manager is sticking to their general investment road-map which is as follows: •Global growth remains subdued, an environment that should suit \'big and boring\' companies (long positions) over \'small and sexy\' ones (short positions). • Even if QE is not ending it may be reaching the limits of its effectiveness in some regions. • The mining boom in Australia is over and as such so is the era of a high Aussie dollar and Australia's (relatively) high interest rates. • Gaining exposure to the US economy and the US$ (at least in a relative sense). |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Monash Absolute Investment Fund
15 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Monash Absolute Investment Fund recorded +1.1% after fees, in June, despite another negative month for the market.
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15 Jul 2013 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund places a high priority on capital preservation, and have an absolute return focus in accepting market risk. The Manager employs a comprehensive approach to making investment decisions utilising value, growth and discounted cash flow styles. The portfolio is somewhat concentrated and the manager looks to diversify the portfolio across industries and themes rather than staying near an index. The portfolio may at times have a large amount of cash or other protection. |
| Manager Comments | Over the Fund's first 12 months, to 30 June, the return was +18.6%. This is above the Manager's target of 12-15% pa over a full cycle and, as intended, it was achieved while limiting the Fund's risk exposure. Net exposure to the market averaged only 65% over the year and the standard deviation of monthly returns was approximately half that of the ASX200 Acc Index. |
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Fund Review: BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
15 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund, showing KPI's for May 2013 vs ASX200, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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15 Jul 2013 - Fund Review: BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Blackrock Multi Opportunity Fund (pdf format)
BLACKROCK MULTI OPPORTUNITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- BlackRock is the world's largest fund management group. Since being established in 1988 it has grown organically and by acquisition to manage US$3.56 trillion as of July 2012.
- Operations cover 27 countries including Australia (where BlackRock has A$45 billion in FUM) managing a broad range of strategies across a variety of asset classes.
- The Multi Opportunity Fund is an Australian domiciled multi strategy fund of funds which allocates investors' capital into underlying BlackRock funds at the discretion of the Sydney based investment team.
- The Fund offers broad diversification across asset classes including equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities with an attractive risk profile, having provided double digit returns since 2009 with low volatility.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Blackrock Multi Opportunity Fund (pdf format)
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
12 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Morphic Global Opportunities Fund recorded 1.84% during June driven by stock holdings in a number of countries as well as macro-economic tilts.
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12 Jul 2013 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | From a thematic view, the US banking basket was the best contributor. Most of this came from the Fund's largest individual company position, Wells Fargo. However US Bancorp and all the smaller regional banks holdings also helped. The Manager believes the turbulence caused by recognition the US will soon reduce the pace of money printing is starting to ease in, particularly in developed markets. As a result the Fund is now fully invested again. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
11 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund returned -0.46% during June with a net equity exposure at month end of 35.5%.
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11 Jul 2013 - 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. On the short side, the portfolio is particularly concentrated, with stock selection limited by both liquidity and the difficulty of borrowing stock in smaller cap companies. Short positions are only taken when there is a high conviction view on the specific stock. The Fund uses derivatives in a limited way, mainly selling short dated covered call options to generate additional income. These typically have less than 30 days to expiry, and are usually 10 to 15% out of the money. ASX SPI futures and index put options can be used to hedge the portfolio's overall net position. |
| Manager Comments | The Australian equity market remained under pressure in June, with the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index falling 2.62%. Potential near term QE3 withdrawal and concerns over liquidity conditions in China increased the volatility of financial markets. US economic data signaled a continued recovery with indicators of US business investment and manufacturing generally stronger. Despite disappointing domestic economic data and further falls in commodity prices, the Reserve Bank of Australia left the official cash rate unchanged at 2.75%. Defensive sectors continued to outperform cyclicals, whilst large caps (-1.9%) significantly outperformed small caps (-7.5%). Long positions in EBOS (New Zealand listed), JB Hi-Fi, CSL and a short position in Share Price Index Futures contracts (hedging long positions) were the largest positive contributors, whilst long positions in Henderson Group, NAB and Suncorp were the largest detractors. Net equity market exposure remained relatively steady at 35.5% including derivatives (46.7% long and 11.3% short). |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Insync Global Titans Fund
10 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
Insync's Global Titans Fund returns 0.91% in June as stocks driven by Consumer spending performed, a falling A$ and the SPI index hedge both assisted, offset by holdings in the IT sector.
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10 Jul 2013 - Insync Global Titans Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund's return was assisted by holdings in companies driven by consumer spending such as BSkyB, Macdonald's, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestlé and Roche performing, partly offset by the IT sector holdings such as IBM, Accenture and Oracle. The falling A$ and the Fund's SPI index hedge both also contributed positively. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
8 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia's long/short trust returns -0.18% in June vs. the ASX200 Accumulation's loss of -2.32% whilst keeping net risk exposure at just 3%.
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8 Jul 2013 - 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 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. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
4 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned 1.1% during May bringing it's since inception return to 21.03%.
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4 Jul 2013 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The local market fell 2.5% in June with a noticeable pickup in volatility across the globe as various macro events took their toll on investor sentiment across all asset classes. As a result, the AUD continued its' recent slide finishing the month down over 4% against the USD ($0.914) while the Materials sector finished down over 10% for the month. Other under-performing sectors included IT (-6%) and Energy (-5.8%). The Fund consolidated the gains made recently with a profit warning from one of the short holdings as well as a general risk-off attitude towards domestically focused businesses contributing to performance. Detracting from performance was a profit warning from one of the Fund's long holdings. The Manager expects recent volatility to persist as markets and investors grapple with a potential change in ultra-loose monetary policy which has been in place for so long now. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
AFM Prism Active Equity Fund
3 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The AFM Prism Active Equity Fund returned 1.66% during May.
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3 Jul 2013 - AFM Prism Active Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund will invest in a portfolio consisting of a group of underlying managed funds which focus on investing in ASX listed companies. The Fund will not directly invest in equity markets or derivatives, but the underlying funds may use short selling or invest in derivatives to improve performance or reduce risk. The underlying managers and funds will be selected from Absolute Return Funds managed in Australia. This reduces the risk of currency fluctuations, facilitates due diligence and ensures that each underlying fund manager is licensed by the Australian Securities Investments Commission (ASIC). A combination of quantitative performance analysis and qualitative operational due diligence is used to create a portfolio of five to ten 'best of breed' funds. AFM's research has shown that selecting a relatively small group of funds results in better risk adjusted performance than that of a larger, more diversified group. Significant research from Australia and overseas shows that the performance of boutique funds, (particularly those where the principals remain actively involved in the day to day investment decisions) and smaller managers can provide more attractive returns than larger or more established managers. As a result the Fund may invest in funds managed by boutique fund managers where the principals invest alongside outside investors, creating an attractive alignment of interests. In addition the Fund may also invest in funds managed by early stage managers with less than three years history, but only where the principals concerned have a demonstrated track record of prior performance in a similar role, and where AFM has been able to conduct thorough due diligence on the management company and its operations. The underlying funds are monitored each month by AFM Prism Asset Management and AFM to ensure each fund's strategy and risk limits remain appropriate for current market conditions. The returns of each underlying fund are also analysed to ensure the original basis for inclusion in the portfolio remains relevant, and to allow new or additional funds to be added to enhance overall performance. |
| Manager Comments | May was the month that the search for yield came to an end as investors rotated away from the stocks that had enjoyed strong performances over the last twelve months. Banks fell 11.3% and Telco's 4.9% as did consumer staples, -9.0% and discretionary retail, -10.1%. Of the five underlying funds, three had a positive month in May, and two had negative returns. One of the funds delivered a remarkable performance of 9.49% and this was the major contributor to Prism's performance. On the flip side one of the managers had a weak month losing 2.37%. However with this fund's allocation in the portfolio at 2%, the loss had a minimal impact on Prism's May performance. The Manager continues to conduct research on new managers for investment, but balancing caution remains an important factor given the market's recent activity. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
2 Jul 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund returned -0.16% during May and 8.98% since inception.
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2 Jul 2013 - BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | - Australian and International Equity Long/Short - Global Fixed Income Long/Short - Global Macro - Commodity Alpha - Alpha Transport The Fund's goal is to provide investors with a source of consistent, risk-controlled, absolute returns that are over time, expected to have low correlations with the returns of major asset classes. The Fund aims to achieve a return of 8% p.a. before fees, above the RBA Cash Rate Target over rolling 3 year periods. In order to achieve its expected return objective, the Fund will target a total expected risk of between 4-6% p.a. over the same rolling 3 year period. |
| Manager Comments | The Multi Opportunity Fund delivered a small negative performance in May with Global Equity Market Neutral, European equity long/short, and International Alpha Transport strategies adding value. Australian Equity Market Neutral, Global Macro, and Fixed Income Global Alpha strategies detracted. The Australian equity market fell -5.1% in May as investors rotated out of yield stocks and into resources. The leading sector for the month was Information Technology, led by Computershare, which benefited from its USD exposure. Materials and Energy also enjoyed positive returns, led by some smaller energy stocks, and companies in base metals and coal. Performance of the Australian equity long/short strategy was hurt by the rebound in small/mid cap resources which had been sold down heavily in April, by the out-performance of USD exposed stocks, and by several significant stock specific profit warnings. Our short positions accounted for most of the under-performance with mineral sands miner Iluka Resources and uranium miner Paladin Energy among the biggest detractors. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
