TIDMAIS
RNS Number : 5585B
Alternative Invest. Strategies Ld
05 March 2014
Alternative Investment Strategies Limited
(the "Company")
Interim Management Statement
This interim management statement relates to the period from 1
November 2013 to the date of publication of this statement and has
been prepared solely to provide additional information in order to
meet the relevant requirement of the UK Listing Authority's
Disclosure and Transparency Rules, and should not be relied on by
Shareholders, or any other party, for any other purpose.
Investment objective
Historically, the objective of the Company was to invest in a
diversified portfolio of hedge funds on a worldwide basis with the
aim of achieving superior absolute returns with low volatility.
Since the Company's shareholders approved the Managed Wind-down of
the Company on 12 June 2013, the revised investment objective and
policy of the Company has been to seek to realise all existing
assets in the portfolio with a view to maximising the return of
invested capital to shareholders in an orderly manner.
Financial position and performance
In the period from 1 November 2013 to 28 February 2014 (the date
of the latest available estimated weekly net asset value as at 21
February 2014), the Company's net asset value decreased by 2.8% to
135.86 pence and the shares were trading at a 4.1% discount to net
asset value.
Investment Manager's review
The Company has now undertaken three compulsory partial
redemptions as part of the Managed Wind-down, two of which were
carried out during the period under review. On the 14 November
2013, 12,378,158 shares were redeemed at a redemption price of
139.44p while on the 14 February 2014, 17,089,501 shares were
redeemed at a redemption price of 142.66p. At the close of business
on the 13 August, prior to the first partial redemption on the
following day, there were 108,171,052 shares in issue and as there
are now 8,042,307 shares in issue as at 28 February 2014, it means
that some 92.6% of the issued share capital has so far been
compulsory redeemed during this wind-down process.
A large number of positions were redeemed out of the portfolio
at the end of June 2013 with further sales made subsequently, such
that by January, the Company only had one core manager holding.
This was the Event Driven manager, Brevan Howard Credit Catalysts
who has largely sourced gains from exposure to structured credits.
The portfolio also contained illiquids without standard redemption
frequencies with a weighting of 4.1% as at the end of January. The
remaining other holdings were either cash or cash receivables.
The investment manager's review commentary covers the investment
period from 1 November 2013 to 21 February 2014 and refers to the
general environment and how it impacted the holdings of the Company
during this period. November and December provided constructive
months for most hedge fund managers with the highest gains being
produced by the managers in the Long/Short Equity and Event Driven
strategies. During November, rises were reported in US home prices
and auto sales together with ongoing positive ISM data and this
continued to help maintain investor interest in risk assets.
Furthermore, the supportive accommodative monetary policy stance of
central banks in the developed world was underlined by the
confirmation in the US of the dovish Janet Yellen and by the
interest rate cut in Europe from the ECB, as they were concerned
over deflationary pressures. Equity market performance varied
across geographies with good rises in China, the US and a
particularly strong upward move in Japan compared with more mixed
returns in Europe and wider spread losses in Developing Markets
such as Russia, India and Brazil. The Long/Short Equity managers
performed well in these market conditions as clear alpha generation
was observable across the long books with a further small
contribution, in aggregate, from short books. Positive returns were
produced across the Event Driven strategy. Specialist Credit
managers continued to source gains from structured credits while
one of the managers sourced gains from more differentiated security
selection and exposures to higher yields. The return provided by
the equity special situation manager was also positive, albeit not
as high. However, the Fixed Income Relative Value manager suffered
from the movement of fixed income and money market curve positions
and produced a small loss.
The decision by the Fed in December to reduce their monthly
purchases by $10bn was well-received by markets with forward
guidance indicating that base rates would be expected to stay low
well past the time that the unemployment rate declined below 6.5%.
Equity markets generally bounced strongly in the second two weeks
of the month to produce positive figures across most developed
markets with the US and Japan being at the higher end of the range.
The Long/Short Equity managers performed well and produced positive
returns. Gains were driven by strong stock selection on their long
books while short positions generally proved to be costly. Market
conditions remained fundamentally positive but with low levels of
corporate activity in the traditionally quieter month of December.
Gains were widespread for Event Driven managers in general and the
two managers held in this portfolio were no exception. The
Specialist credit manager sourced gains from structured credits and
income related positions. However, the best performing manager in
this area benefitted from their focus on equity special
situations.
January provided a relatively dramatic start to the year in
which the remaining Event Driven manager provided capital
protection against the equity market weakness. The gains were
impacted by a cash drag over this period as cash was accumulated
prior to the third compulsory redemption of shares. The net asset
value of Alternative Investment Strategies Limited returned 2.2%
over the three month period from 1 November 2013 and rose from
139.79p to 142.80p.
Compulsory Partial Redemption of Shares
On 31 October, it was announced that GBP17,260,286.18
(equivalent to 46.0152p per share) would be returned to holders of
shares on 13 November 2013 by way of a compulsory partial
redemption of shares. This represented 33.0% of the Company's
issued share capital at the time.
On 3 February, it was announced that GBP24,380,065.36
(equivalent to 97.0088p per share) would be returned to holders of
shares on 13 February 2014 by way of a compulsory partial
redemption of shares. This represented 68.0% of the Company's
issued share capital at the time.
Compulsory Redemption and Total Voting rights
On 14 November 2013, the Board confirmed that 12,378,158 shares
were redeemed at a redemption price of 139.44p and that the total
number of shares in issue was then 25,131,808.
On 14 February 2014, the Board confirmed that 17,089,501 shares
were redeemed at a redemption price of 142.66p and that the total
number of shares in issue was then 8,042,307 and this remains the
case as at the date of this announcement.
Removal of Currency Hedging
On 14 February, it was announced that in accordance with the
proposals for the Managed Wind-down detailed in the circular to
shareholders dated 15 May 2013 (the "Circular"), the currency
hedging programme which had been maintained throughout the Managed
Wind-down until the early part of February had been terminated. The
Company's remaining underlying investments are denominated in US
dollars so that, going forward, shareholders will be exposed not
only to the investment performance of the Company's underlying
portfolio holdings but also to fluctuations in the US
dollar/Sterling exchange rate.
The Investment Manager is holding cash in Sterling and will be
converting cash received by the Company as part of the Managed
Wind-down into Sterling on receipt to help mitigate against
potential future fluctuations.
From 1 November 2013 to 7 February 2014, the net asset value
increased by 1.8% to 142.37p. By the 14 February, the currency
hedge had been removed on the remaining assets and the net asset
value had decreased to 135.86p by 21 February 2014, largely because
of fluctuations in the US dollar/Sterling exchange rate.
Current Portfolio and Illiquid holdings
On the 21 February, it was announced that since the last
investment update in respect of the portfolio as at 31 January, the
Investment Manager had been able to realise all the remaining
illiquid holdings (which accounted for 4.1% as at 31 January).
The Company's investments had the following breakdown as at
21February 2014:
24.5% Sterling cash
27.3% Brevan Howard Credit Catalysts
48.2% Cash receivables being US dollar amounts from former
portfolio holdings
Source of data: International Asset Management Limited
Liquidation
The Board expects that the Company will be put into liquidation
in May 2014, with a circular being despatched to shareholders in
due course in order to convene the necessary general meeting to
implement the liquidation. It is anticipated that a further
distribution will be made to shareholders in May 2014 in the form
of a first liquidation distribution shortly after the Company has
been placed in liquidation.
Other than described above, the Board is not aware of any
material events during the period from 1 November 2013 to the date
of this announcement, which would have had a material impact on the
financial position of the Company.
Investor Information
The latest available information on the Company can be accessed
via www.aisinvest.com.
By order of the Board
Alternative Investment Strategies Limited
Enquiries:
Sean Molony Tel: 020 7734 8488
International Asset Management Limited
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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Alternative Invest. Strategies (LSE:AIS)
過去 株価チャート
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