Altin AG Holding(s) in Company

 
TIDMAIA 
 
 

ALTIN market review and portfolio holdings

as of 1st October 2014

Baar, 14 October 2014 - ALTIN AG (SIX: ALTN, LSE: AIA), the Swiss alternative investment company listed on the London and Swiss stock exchanges, today discloses its entire hedge fund portfolio holdings as part of its policy of full transparency to investors. The portfolio, featuring more than 40 underlying hedge funds and representing over 10 investment strategies, is particularly well diversified and has a NAV performance of +204.90%1 since its inception in December 1996.

ALTIN continues to deliver solid outperformance

After the +24.65% share price appreciation in 2013, the positive share price trend has continued in 2014, with ALTIN shares rising by a further +8% to the end of September. ALTIN's permanent capital base allows the portfolio to be judiciously allocated to funds that require a slightly longer lock-up and offer potentially higher returns without incurring any liquidity mismatch. The portfolio remains sufficiently liquid, with 63.5% of assets invested in funds with monthly or better liquidity, allowing the manager to make allocation shifts when deemed necessary. The ALTIN NAV per share was up +1.12% in Q3 2014 and up +4.45% in the year to end September1.

 
Portfolio as at 1st October 2014                  Total Portfolio (%) 
Global Macro Strategy                             21.19% 
ABD Managers plc Tactical Discretionary           3.02% 
Macro UCITS Fund 
Civic Capital Currency Offshore Fund Ltd          1.83% 
Fortress Macro Fund Ltd                           2.70% 
H2O Vivace                                        2.01% 
Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions                1.83% 
- Fulcrum Alpha Macro UCITS 
Stone Milliner Macro Fund Inc                     2.01% 
The Tudor BVI Global Fund Ltd                     3.09% 
Two Sigma Compass Enhanced Cayman Fund Ltd        4.70% 
Commodity Trading Strategy                        6.74% 
Cumulus Energy Fund                               2.28% 
Goldfinch Capital Management Offshore Ltd         1.91% 
Old Hickory Trading Partners Ltd                  2.55% 
Managed Futures Strategy                          2.12% 
Quantica Managed Futures Fund Inc                 2.12% 
Equity Long/Short Strategy                        16.76% 
Clearline Capital Partners Offshore Ltd           3.25% 
Coatue Offshore Fund Ltd                          4.54% 
DB Platinum Ivory Optimal Fund                    1.57% 
Perceptive Life Sciences Offshore Fund Ltd        2.40% 
Verrazzano European Focus Fund PLC                3.05% 
Zeal China Fund Limited                           1.95% 
Equity Long Bias Strategy                         9.10% 
Arrow Offshore Ltd                                3.14% 
Golden China Fund                                 3.04% 
NPJ Global Opportunities Fund                     2.92% 
Event-Driven Strategy                             30.07% 
Aristeia International Ltd                        3.91% 
Contrarian Emerging Markets Offshore Fund Ltd     1.91% 
Jana Nirvana Offshore Fund Ltd                    4.92% 
LLSOF LP                                          4.01% 
Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions - Castlerigg   1.48% 
Equity Event and  Arbitrage UCITS Fund 
Marathon Special Opportunity Fund Ltd             5.67% 
Paulson Enhanced Ltd                              2.88% 
York European Focus Unit Trust                    5.29% 
Credit Long/Short Strategy                        3.77% 
Claren Road Credit Fund Ltd                       2.41% 
PAMLI Global Credit Strategies Offshore Ltd       1.36% 
Equity Market Neutral Strategy                    11.45% 
Atlas Enhanced Fund Ltd                           3.37% 
Tradeworx Ultra Select Offshore Fund Ltd          0.93% 
Two Sigma Absolute Return Equity                  2.31% 
Enhanced Cayman Fund Ltd 
ZP Offshore Utility Fund Ltd                      4.84% 
Interest Rate Strategy                            3.77% 
Providence MBS Fund Ltd                           3.77% 
Volatility Strategies                             1.87% 
Capstone Vol Offshore Ltd                         1.87% 
Protection Strategies                             1.52% 
Conquest Macro Fund Ltd                           1.52% 
Multi-Strategy Funds                              13.48% 
Citadel Kensington Global Strategies Fund Ltd     5.24% 
Millennium International                          3.26% 
Stratus Feeder Ltd                                2.99% 
Visium Global Offshore Fund Ltd                   1.99% 
ALTIN AG                                          4.15% 
Others                                            1.48% 
Total                                             127.47%2 
 
 

ALTIN: Q3 2014 commentary

The ALTIN portfolio produced a positive return over the third quarter of the year. The period was characterised by two strong market return drivers: first, the divergence of economic and monetary conditions between major zones (most importantly the United States and the Euro zone) became clearer and stronger, which led to a US dollar rally and a material weakening of the Euro; secondly, volatility was partially driven by the evolution of geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East, with the former eventually settling down, but the latter gaining momentum. In this context, markets were relatively volatile, with an outperformance of safer assets at the end of the period, such as government bonds, and a fairly strong underperformance of small caps and commodities. World equities were down in July and September but managed to end the quarter in positive territory. When it comes to hedge fund strategies, Macro, which had had difficulties performing until then, was clearly the winning strategy during the period, with gains mainly from currencies and commodities. Event Driven, on the other hand, had a difficult quarter primarily due to uncertainty regarding the so-called tax-inversion deals; it remains however the best strategy year-to-date. Within Equity Hedge and Relative Value there was too much dispersion of returns to draw general comments.

In this environment, ALTIN's portfolio fared rather well. Being up in July and August and flattish in September, it has outperformed both equities and hedge fund indices. It is fair to say that in the more complicated environment that prevailed in the last few months, the current portfolio construction played a crucial role in providing robust returns: large positive contributors were Discretionary Macro funds, Commodity Traders, Market Neutral managers and multi-manager platforms, whereas negative contributors were to be found in the Event Driven silo, with both Credit-focused and Equity-focused funds weighing on performance; it is also worth noting that quantitative strategies as a whole had a very good quarter.

This is in striking contrast with what happened at the beginning of the year. Whilst in each quarter this year the performance of ALTIN's champions more than compensated for the drag from its losers, champions and losers rotated as the year progressed. This led to three positive quarters, with little correlation to market events and a relatively strong year-to-end September NAV per share performance of +4.45% (based on estimated NAV as 30.09.2014).

At the underlying fund level, the diversity of sources of returns is even more salient: for example, the four best performers over the quarter were a grain trader, a multi-manager platform, a Systematic Macro fund and a Chinese Equity Long/Short manager, whereas the four largest negative contributors were an activist, a power trader, a European multi-event fund and a Long Biased US fund. The grain trader is a particularly interesting example. The fund started the year with a deep drawdown, being too early in its short end-of-year corn positioning, which like other funds got disrupted by the crisis in Ukraine. However, the fund kept its positioning, albeit in a slightly different form, leading to a very strong recovery as the prices of grains collapsed over the summer and bringing the fund within the top five contributors for the year despite its satellite position sizing within ALTIN. Another interesting third quarter development was the very good performance of Macro funds, both Discretionary and Systematic, which rode the US Dollar rally, a frustrating trade until then, and gained on short Euro positions. This validates the case for Macro strategies, which is largely based on the increasing opportunity set arising from the accelerating divergence between the world's largest economies.

The current portfolio is well balanced between the four major investment styles: Macro, Equity Hedge, Event Driven and Relative Value. Within each style, manager strategies are also relatively varied providing further diversification, but without hampering mid-term expected returns. Protection Strategies have been slightly increased in order to account for a larger volatility risk as we approach the beginning of a tightening cycle in the US. Overall, the portfolio is well structured to avoid being too much impacted by a coordinated market sell-off, but at the same time it is exposed to some specific and interesting alpha themes such as European event-driven opportunities, developing trends in currencies, healthcare sector growth and innovation and the Chinese economic transition.

 
Top contributors YTD as of 30.09.2014 (estimated data) 
* Two Sigma Compass Enhanced Cayman Fund Ltd   +1.28% 
* ZP Offshore Utility Fund Ltd                 +0.91% 
* York European Focus Unit Trust               +0.61% 
Top detractors YTD as of 30.09.2014 (estimated data) 
* Coatue Offshore Fund Ltd                     -0.28% 
* Zeal China Fund Limited                      -0.23% 
* Conquest Macro Fund Ltd                      -0.21% 
 
 

Top contributors YTD as of 30.09.2014 (estimated data)

 
 
    -- Two Sigma Compass Enhanced Cayman Fund Ltd +1.28% 
 
    -- ZP Offshore Utility Fund Ltd +0.91% 
 
    -- York European Focus Unit Trust +0.61% 
 

Top detractors YTD as of 30.09.2014 (estimated data)

 
 
    -- Coatue Offshore Fund Ltd -0.28% 
 
    -- Zeal China Fund Limited -0.23% 
 
    -- Conquest Macro Fund Ltd -0.21% 
 

ALTIN: Portfolio profile to remain stable

For the time being the portfolio is expected to remain fairly stable and at this stage anticipated hedge fund reallocations should not dramatically change the profile of the Fund. It is to be emphasised that a significant portion of the portfolio is liquid enough to quickly take advantage of new investment opportunities should they arise during the course of the coming months.

Asset Allocation according to redemption frequency (including remaining lock-ups)

as at 1 October 2014

 
Daily                       6.16% 
Weekly                      10.01% 
Monthly                     47.31% 
Quarterly                   45.39% 
Longer than Quarterly       18.60% 
Total                       127.47%3 
 
 

ALTIN: not affected by redemption issues

ALTIN is a closed-ended and fixed capital fund and as such it is not faced with redemption requests. This provides the investment manager with the opportunity to select the best risk/reward opportunities in the hedge fund universe. Investors can freely buy and sell ALTIN shares on a daily basis on the London or Swiss stock exchanges, without the need to redeem at fixed redemption dates.

For further information, please contact:

 
Tony Morrongiello          David Hothersall 
Chief Executive Officer    Kinlan Communications 
Tel. [phone]   Tel. [phone] 
[e-mail]              [e-mail] 
 
 

Note to Editors

About ALTIN AG

ALTIN AG was launched in 1996 and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange as well as on the London Stock Exchange. It ranks among Switzerland's leading alternative investment companies. Currently, ALTIN is invested in more than 40 hedge funds representing diverse investment strategies. Its objective is to generate an absolute compound annual return in USD terms with lower volatility than equity markets. Thanks to these characteristics and a low correlation with equity markets, ALTIN shares provide an ideal complement to all diversified portfolios.

www.altin.ch

1 Estimated NAV performance as at 30 September 2014

2 ALTIN's gross exposure stands at 127.47% as at 1 October 2014, vs. 127.67% as 1 July 2014

3 ALTIN's gross exposure stands at 127.47% as at 1 October 2014, vs. 127.67% as 1 July 2014

 
 
This information is provided by Business Wire