Category: Funds

A fund refers to capital belonging to numerous investors used to collectively purchase securities while each investor retains ownership and control of his own shares. An investment fund provides a broader selection of investment opportunities, greater management expertise, and lower investment fees than investors might be able to obtain on their own. Types of investment funds include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, money market funds, and hedge funds.

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Alphinity Sustainable Share Fund: An impressive sustainable strategy with strong foundations

ESG characteristics and contribute towards the advancement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. The investment process implements negative and positive screens and is based on a sustainable charter developed by the Sustainable Share Fund Compliance Committee. The negative screen seeks to eliminate companies that are involved in activities that are harmful to society. The positive screen aims to discover companies that make a constructive impact on society in areas of economic, environmental, and social development by making a net contribution to one or more of the UN SDGs. The fundamental research focuses on discovering undervalued companies in or entering an earnings upgrade cycle.

Portfolio:

The portfolio typically contains around 35-55 companies, which support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and have strong ESG practices. However, the stocks selected for the portfolio must also have attractive investment fundamentals and underestimated earnings growth potential. A composite research model houses the overall research process, blending ESG evaluations, qualitative analysis, and quantitative assessments. Stocks that score highly in the composite research model populate the biggest active weightings in the portfolio, though the maximum position is restricted to plus or minus 5% of the index weight. Companies that are involved in gambling, alcohol, and tobacco or mine fossil fuels, uranium, and gold are excluded from the portfolio.

People:

Johan Carlberg, AllianceBernstein’s former director of Australian equities, leads Alphinity, and his former AllianceBernstein colleagues Andrew Martin, Stephane Andre, and Bruce Smith all share investment duties. Andre and Smith are the portfolio managers of this strategy. In 2020, two new fundamental analysts were employed: Andrey Mironenko and Jacob Barnes. In addition, an ESG & sustainability manager, Jessica Cairns, was hired in 2020; she supports the strategies’ assessment and integration of ESG-related matters. Cairns also supports the strategy’s Compliance Committee and is involved in its efforts to define an investment universe that considers companies’ contribution towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Performance:

Alphinity took over investment management of this fund in late 2010. Alphinity Sustainable Share has outperformed the category index (S&P/ASX 200) and most category peers over three, five, and 10 years to 31 July 2021, on a trailing returns basis. Stocks that played a role in this solid performance include IDP Education, Fortescue, CSL, Goodman Group, and Lifestyle Communities.

(Source: https://www.alphinity.com.au/performance/)

Price:

Analysts find it difficult to analyse expenses since it comes directly from the returns. The share class on this report levies a fee that ranks in middle quintile. This share class is expected to deliver positive alpha relative to the category benchmark index. 


(Source: Morningstar)                                                                       (Source: Morningstar)       

About Fund:

Alphinity was founded in 2010 by Johan Carlberg, Andrew Martin, Bruce Smith, and Stephane Andre, with Stuart Welch joining in 2017. The team structure is relatively flat, with all five senior team members being portfolio managers and undertaking company research. However, for more than a decade, Andre and Smith have made the major decisions on stock selection and portfolio construction for this strategy. The portfolio managers on stock research are capably supported by two fundamental research analysts, senior quantitative analyst, and senior trader. Alphinity Sustainable Share’s strong foundations–including experienced portfolio managers, disciplined multifaceted process, and comprehensive commitment to environmental, social, and governance-focused investments.

(Source: Morningstar)

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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PIMCO Global Bond Fund attracts well – resource to the investment team

Well established and methodical investment Process

PIMCO’s investment process entails three main buckets: (1) the economic forum (top down analysis), which meets four times a year to debate the state of play on short and long – term basis. (2) the investment committee develops the strategic parameters for portfolios and set the risk parameters such as interest rate exposure, yield curve positioning and sector positioning. (3) Portfolio management (bottom-up analysis) consists of PIMCO’s rigorous analysis and research of securities.

Downside Risk

  • Interest rate risk – (bond price and yields are inversely related)
  • Credit risk (the risk of downgrade and default) & Inflation risk
  • Personnel risk – significant turnover among the 3 lead PMs

Fund Performance 

(%)Fund (net)BenchmarkOut-performance
1-month -0.15-0.22+0.07
3-months1.081.53-0.45
FYTD0.871.03-0.16
1-year1.690.55+1.14
2-years (p.a.) 2.541.53+1.01
3-years (p.a.)4.384.28+0.10
Since inception (%p.a.)3.863.84+0.02

Source: PIMCO

Sector Exposure

Source: PIMCO

About the fund

The ESG Global Bond Fund is an actively managed portfolio of global fixed-interest investment which incorporates PIMCO’s ESG screening. The portfolio predominantly invests in governments, corporate, mortgage and other global fixed interest securities.

  • The ESGGlobal

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Top pick within global listed property

of stocks within a range of real estate sectors across developed markets (North America, U.K, Europe, and Asia Pacific). The Fund’s objective is to exceed the total returns of the Benchmark (FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Index (AUD) Net TRI) after fees on a rolling 3-year basis.

Approach

Resolution mixes top-down thematic and bottom-up fundamental research to arrive at a relatively

concentrated 40- to 60-stock portfolio with little resemblance to the benchmark. The first step filters the 450- plus stock universe down to a manageable size. Macroeconomic drivers play a part, based on the team’s company visitation schedule. Resolution also uses its proprietary screening database to filter out stocks with undesirable characteristics such as high debt/EBIT ratios and balance-sheet risk.

Portfolio

Resolution has managed global property since 2006, but this vehicle was founded in 2008 during the depths of the global financial crisis, when some low-quality REITs flirted with bankruptcy. Resolution didn’t avoid all the underperformers, but it did better than rivals at avoiding the worst offenders. Its focus on sustainability and corporate governance helped, as did the chosen UBS Global Investors Index, which focused more on rent collectors and less on risky development. Being brand new gave Resolution a clean slate, helping the team to buy quality REITs at bargain prices. The quality preference also keeps a lid on portfolio turnover, which oscillates between 30% and 55%–not as low as an index fund but lower than the average active strategy. However, Resolution has been willing to make occasional substantial portfolio shifts. In the first half of 2019, Resolution saw some industrial property such as Goodman as expensive and was underweight in this name, favouring industrial exposure through ProLogis and Segro. During the following 12 months (to 30 April 2021), Resolution preferred residential, data centre, and tower exposure, specifically in the US. The strategy managed AUD 14.4 billion as at 30 April 2021.

Source: Morningstar

General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Pendal Sustainable Conservative Fund: An effective asset allocated fund with ESG overlay

It is noted that the investors would be comfortable as the ESG considerations mirror with those of the Manager’s approach- the strategy does not invest in tobacco or weapons manufacturing as well as the Fund has negative screens (alcohol, gaming, pornography) with activities materiality caveat. The fund utilises internal as well as external fund managers in order to make effective decisions while allocating its assets. The fund size is $345m.            

Downside Risks:

  • ESG breaches by investments in the portfolio.
  • Underlying managers fail to deliver performance or breach mandates.  
  • Personnel change – turnover in the team or portfolio managers. 
  • Broader market risk.

Fund Performance & Current Positioning:

(%)FundBenchmarkOut-performance
1-month 1.07%0.74%+0.33%
3-months 3.62%3.09%+0.53%
6-months8.17%5.89%+2.28%
1-year 9.46%7.40%+2.06%
3-year (p.a.)4.82%5.28%-0.46%
5-year (p.a.)4.10%4.76%-0.66%
Since Inception (p.a.)+7.15%+3.86%+3.29%

(Source: Pendal; Past performance is not an indicator of future performance)

Fund Positioning:

 % of Portfolio
Australian shares9.0%
International shares13.0%
Australian fixed interest17.2%
International fixed interest16.2%
Australian property securities3.4%
International property securities 3.1%
Alternative investments15.9%

(Source: Pendal)

Key Highlights:

  • Investment Team:

The Pendal Multi-Asset team is headed by the very experienced Michael Blayney. The team is made up of 4 members- 3 Portfolio Managers and 1 Analyst. The team is also supported by Edwina Matthews who is Pendal’s Head of Responsible Investments.

  • Investment Philosophy and Process:

The Fund’s core belief is that markets are inefficient, and that active management can improve risk and return. The process basically consists of three approaches namely; Strategic Asset Allocation Approach (SAA), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration and construction of benchmark using neutral’s asset allocation position and index returns.

About the Fund:

The Fund is an actively managed multi-asset portfolio across a range of asset classes and incorporates a range of sustainable, ethical and financial considerations. The strategy aims to provide real return over inflation over the medium term. The strategy’s neutral target asset allocation is 75% defensive assets and 25% growth assets, which is suitable for ESG focused conservative investors.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Funds Funds

Janus Henderson Australian Fixed Interest Fund: A solid core fixed interest offering

over rolling three-year periods. The fund invests in a range of securities including government, semi-government, corporate and asset backed securities.              

Downside Risks:

  • Investment strategy selection fails to yield alpha.
  • Lead PM departs or significant turnover in the broader investment team. 
  • Credit / interest rates risk.  

Fund Performance & Current Positioning:

(%)FundBenchmarkOut-performance
1-mths0.05%0.09%-0.09%
3-mths2.78%2.55%+0.23%
6-mths4.77%4.23%+0.54%
1-year (p.a.)1.92%1.05%+0.89%
3-year (p.a.)4.90%4.52%+0.38%
5-year (p.a.)3.62%3.33%+0.29%
Inception6.74%6.51%+0.23%

(Source: Janus Henderson)

Sector Allocation:

(Source: Janus Henderson)

Key Highlights:

  • Investment Team:

The Janus Henderson Australian fixed interest team, headed by Jay Sivapalan, is highly experienced and well resourced. The investment team consists of highly qualified people having adequate work experience in investment, portfolio management and credit analysis.

  • Investment Philosophy and Process:

The investment philosophy of this fund focuses on investing in compelling opportunities, diversified strategies, capital preservation and strategic view. The Fund’s investment and portfolio construction process consists of Fundamental Research, Strategy Formulation and Portfolio Construction. 

  • Credit Process:

ESG is integrated into the credit process. Since the manager believes in ‘quality before price’ philosophy, ESG considerations are fundamental to their four-pillar bottom-up credit analysis, which are: business risk, financial risk, management profile and ESG risk.

About the Company:

Janus Henderson is a global asset manager with more than 340 investment professionals and expertise across all major asset classes. Its individual, intermediary and institutional clients span the globe and entrust it with more than $500bn of their assets. Janus Henderson’s commitment to active management offers clients the opportunity to outperform passive strategies over the course of market cycles. Through times of both market calm and growing uncertainty, its managers apply their experience weighing risk versus reward potential – seeking to ensure clients are on the right side of change.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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During equity market sell-offs, Man AHL Alpha provided downside protection

 The strategy’s research program is driven by teams from other asset classes or themes (Specialist Strategies, Portfolio Management, Equities, Fast Strategies and Core Strategies) who are responsible for their respective models (existing and new models). The portfolio managers of the AHL Alpha Program are Matthew Sargaison, Co-CEO of Man AHL and Russell Korgaonkar, CIO of Man AHL.  

Investment Process 

The Strategy invests in approximately 500 international markets across a range of sectors, utilizing instruments such as securities, futures, options, forward contracts, swaps, CFDs and other financial derivatives. The Strategy can also gain exposure to sectors via stocks, debt, bonds, currencies, short-term interest rates, energies, metals, credit and agriculture.

Historical low correlation to traditional assets classes such as equities and bonds

Given the focus on Diversification, capital is allocated using a quantitative and systematic methodology to maximise diversification and avoid investment style bais. This aims to deliver low correlation to traditional assets such as equities and bonds.

Solid Performance 

Historically, the fund has delivered strong returns in equity market selloffs, albeit past performance is not an indicator of future performance, it is an indicator that the strategy has performed in the past. The fund delivered significant downside protection during market sell-offs – Covid – 19 market selloffs +5.8 per cent v/s S&P 500 Index -19.6 per cent v/s MSCI World -19.6 percent, fourth quarter in 2018 selloff +3 percent v/s S&P 500 Index -13.5 percent v/s MSCI World -12.9 percent, Eurpean debt crisis +5.3 percent v/s S&P 500 -13.8 percent v/s MSCI World -15.4 percent and GFC +25 percent v/s S&P 500 Index -49.2 percent v/s MSCI World -49.3 percent.

Downside Risks

  • Significant turnover in the Broader Investment team.
  • Investment strategy (trading systems) fails to yield alpha.
  • Uses of derivatives and leverage adds additional risks and complexity.

Investment Approach 

Fund Performance

Figure 1: Fund performance (as ofAug-21)–strategy has an absolute return target

(%)Fund (net)
1-mths+0.0%
Year-to-date (YTD)+6.5%
1-year+10.4%
3-year (p.a.)+7.3%
5-year (p.a.)+4.3%
Inception (p.a.)+5.2%
Annualised volatility 8.8%

Source: Man Group

About the Fund

The fund employs a systematic, statistically based investment strategy to exploit technical or price driven signals across a diverse range of global markets. The main strategy used in trend following i.e price trends (up or down) repeatable pattern ~ 500 international markets the fund can access. The portfolio invests in instruments such as Securities, Futures, Options, Forward contracts, Swaps, CFD and other derivatives, the strategy has an absolute return focus with target volatility of 10% p.a.

Company Profile 

Man group is a global investment manager offering investors a diverse range of specialist active strategies and manages over US$135 billion globally. The company has headquarters in London but a globally network of offices. The company employs an extensive team of scientists, technologies and financial professionals.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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The Fund provides investors an opportunity to diversify and distil grow

the portion of return attributed to the S&P/ASX 20 Leaders Index, by 4% p.a. after fees on a rolling 3-year basis. The Fund invests primarily in Australian shares with high quality business models, strong growth, and underestimated earnings momentum and prospects.

Portfolio 

This strategy looks very different from the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index. First, it has traditionally held a significant stake in midsize and larger companies excluding the top 20.Bennelong believes it can capitalise on mispricing through superior fundamental research. The pronounced growth leaning also contributes to this vehicle’s differentiated look. It has traditionally led to an (unsurprising) aversion to the property trust, consumer staples, and utilities sectors. That said, A-REITs have featured on occasion, such as in mid-2019. Consumer discretionary, technology, and healthcare stocks are typically favoured, the attraction being both cyclical and structural growth. This is usually the source of the portfolio appearing expensive relative to the benchmark and peers. The search for growth can lead to mistakes; in such events, liquidity in small-cap names can reduce nimbleness for this strategy given its large asset base. The team is not averse to altering large positions quickly when its view on earnings growth changes. For instance, in early 2021, Bennelong cut the 10% allocation in Afterpay when business execution disappointed and competition increased. This fund is best used in a supporting player role. The firm manages around AUD 8.8 billion, including AUD 4.6 billion in this strategy as of 30 April 2021.

Performance 

The long-term performance at Bennelong is strong. Given the strategy excludes the 20 largest Australian companies, the portfolio has a larger-cap feel than more-dedicated small-cap offerings. As a result, performance comparisons against its equity Australia mid/small-growth Morningstar Category peers should be undertaken cautiously. Bennelong outdid the index and most peers during 2015 and the first half of 2016 thanks to such positions as Domino’s and Aristocrat Leisure. The second half of 2016 was a stumble for Bennelong (and many peers), as resources and value stocks outperformed. The following two years saw it ride the highs of stocks like Treasury Wine Estates, Costa Group, and BWX only to abruptly see their share prices plummet contributing to middling years of performance. Mark East cut the first two names but held BWX as better fundamentals were expected. More recently, 2019 delivered average returns, as Corporate Travel Management detracted while Goodman Group added significant value as investors supported its industrial real estate exposure. However, longtime holdings in James Hardie, IDP Education, and Domino’s delivered in spades in 2020 as the market sought quality growth companies and the fund blazed past both the index and peers. Together with Fisher & Paykel healthcare, Bennelong has continued its outstanding run into the first half of 2021.

Source: Mornigstar

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Fidelity Australian Opportunities Tenured stock-picker with a unique approach

Approach 

Fidelity analysts use a variety of proprietary models and valuation methodologies to assess earnings, cash flows, and value. Site visits and extensive company management meetings play a critical role in the investment process, as fidelity believes these provide valuable insights into a company’s future prospects.  Each investment analyst covers around 25 companies, grouped along sector lines but sectors are rotated every three to four years. The overall portfolio tends to exhibit a growth bais. 

Portfolio

Fidelity Australian Opportunities is an all-cap domestically focused approach. The portfolio typically holds 40 – 70 stocks with core holdings in large-cap names but a longer portfolio tail of small-cap names. As a result, the average market cap slightly lower than other large-cap peers and around 50-55% of the portfolio sits in the top 10. This means active share hover around 45-50%. Positioning is aligned with a long term view of companies, and the historical average annual turnover has been moderate at about 30-50%, which will also make it reasonably tax effective.

People

Howitt was promoted to portfolio manger soon after joining fidelity in 2004 as an analyst covering banks, insurers and diversified financials. Prior to fidelity, she was an analyst/portfolio manager in AMP capital’s value team and also worked as an consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. Support comes from a wide range of local and global sources, including the Sydney based investment research team and the implementation of an assistant portfolio manager. Each analyst coverage responsibilities for a specific sector and these rotate every three to four year to ensure the analysts continued to produce well rounded insights. 

Performance 

Fidelity Australian Opportunities continues to impress long-term track records. The year 2018 was more Tricky, as positions in blue sky and Lynas materially detracted. The strategy responded well in 2019 as Lynas recovered, while CSL and Wisetech continued their strong appreciation. Despite the volatile markets during calendar 2020, performance was particularly strong, beating the benchmark and most peers. The sector Neutral-Approach protected capital on the downside, with the strong showings from Lynas, Mineral Resources, and BlueScope. Despite no significant sector bets, positions in the materials sector played a key role in the Outperformance, with Howitt’s stock picking talents on full display.

FAO Fund Performance .png
FAO Top Holidings .png

About the Fund

Fidelity Australian Opportunities continues to impress with its quality management and unique approach, bolstered by the firm’s global footprint and top-tier research capabilities. Despite the numerous benefits that come with size and scale, the large footprint of the Fidelity group does create limitations for portfolio construction. Where the firms owns 10% of a company, strategies under the fidelity banner can no longer invest in the stock, though it’s a small price to pay for fidelity’s resources. An adaptive process and tenured portfolio manager set the strategy apart, offering an solid choice for diversified exposure to Australian equities.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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A prudent and strong investment strategy that produced absolute returns

Philosophy of the Fund

The Fund’s investment philosophy is based on identifying long-term fundamental value picks that are both listed and unlisted. RARE believes that significant opportunities emerge during economic cycles as markets misprice infrastructure assets in the short term. In the RARE Emerging Markets Strategy, an accumulation index comprised of the FTSE EM Gov Bond Index USD plus 5.0 percent per year is used as a benchmark.

Investment Procedure

The investment team conducts fundamental analysis and valuation in order to identify ‘pure infrastructure’ assets with monopolistic characteristics, long contractual duration, and relatively stable cash flows. In particular, the investments must meet three key requirements:

  • The asset must be a hard-physical asset; 
  • The asset must provide a valuable service to society; and 
  • The asset should have strong foundations in place to ensure equity holders are adequately rewarded.

With these characteristics in mind, RARE uses the ‘RARE EM 150’ as the proprietary investment universe for their Emerging Market Strategy. Included in this list are companies in the MSCI Emerging Markets or Frontier Emerging Markets Index, as well as companies that are listed in other markets but produce a majority of their operating earnings from activities related to emerging markets. Of the 150 securities, 40% of these companies are considered Core and consistently covered, while the remaining 60% are watch listed and updated at least once a year. On a quarterly basis, the composition of the ‘RARE EM 150’ is reviewed by the Investment Leadership Team.

Sector exposure limits are also placed, with a clear preference towards regulated utilities and transport. The Fund notes this is due to their relatively stable performance, and typically lower risk nature in comparison to user-pay assets.

Source: RARE Infrastructure

Fund Positioning 

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Fidelity Asia Fund

and draws on the research capabilities of Fidelity’s analysts based on the ground in Asia.The Fund aims to achieve returns in excess of the MSCI AC Asia ex-Japan Index NR over the suggested minimum investment time period of five to seven years.

Our Opinion

Our rating is based on the following key drivers:

Capable PM/team:

The Fund’s star portfolio manager, Anthony Srom, and his supporting cast of analysts in high regard. Mr. Srom is well-supported by 50 on-the-groundanalysts in Asia and Fidelity’s global researchteam of 180 analysts and 400 investmentprofessionals worldwide. This makes the team one of the largest buyside firms. Nevertheless, we question the extent at which ongoing and deep research can be maintained in order to beat the index –in our view, it is increasingly difficult no matter how large an investment team is,to beat a benchmark of an efficient, liquid and well researched market.

Well-resourced and access to Company management

Relative to peers, the investment team is well resourced with additional access to third party research and consultants to conduct deep investment research as well as a thorough company visitation schedule (as a result of the investment firm’s reputation). Fidelity conducts more than 15,000company meetings a year, in order togain better insights andknowledge, to make investment decisions.

Sensible investment process rooted in bottom-up research, high conviction, highly concentrated and low turnover

The Fund conducts fundamentals bottom-up stock selection to build a high conviction and highly concentrated portfolio of 20–35 stocks based in the Asia Pacific ex Japan region. There is no deliberate portfolio management style bias, although new positions typically exhibit a contrarian/value bias. Mr. Srom is willing to take a long-term view on a stock, resulting in a low turnover strategy (40%–70%). This translates to a holding period of 18–24 months, but there are stocks that have been held for more than three years.

Downside Risk

Asian economic conditions deteriorate, leading to earnings downgrades at the company level. High quality companies underperform especially in stocks where the Fund has a relative overweight position.
Key-man risk should Portfolio Manager, Mr. Anthony Sromdepart.
The Fund invests in emerging markets which can be more volatile than other more developed markets.
The Fund invests in a relatively small number of companies and so may carry more risk than fundsthat are more diversified.

(Source: Morningstar)
General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.