Alternative Invest. Strategies Ld Investment Update November 2013 (0890W)

TIDMAIS

RNS Number : 0890W

Alternative Invest. Strategies Ld

20 December 2013

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES LIMITED

November Investment Manager's Review

Objective

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. On the 12 June 2013, the Company's shareholders approved the Managed Wind-down of the Company and since this date, 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.

Investment Manager's Review

The portfolio is in the process of being wound-down and the first of a series of compulsory redemptions of shares was administered on the 14 August and shareholders received a redemption price of 139.09p on 65% of their shares. A second payment was administered on the 14 November and shareholders received a redemption price of 139.44p on 33% of their remaining shares. The next payment is expected to be made by mid-February and should be broadly in line with the forecasts detailed in the circular of 15 May 2013. This payment will be a significant part of the remaining assets.

A large number of positions were sold out of the portfolio at the end of June with further sales made subsequently in line with the ongoing managed wind-down objective of the Company such that there are now six core holdings in the portfolio. These six core holdings are spread across three strategies such that there is one Fixed Income Relative Value manager, three Event Driven managers and two Long/Short Equity managers. The remaining holdings are the illiquids without standard redemption frequencies with a current weighting in the portfolio of 5.1%. The investment manager expects to receive further payments from these illiquid holdings during the wind-down period.

The following review commentary refers to the general environment and how it impacted the remaining holdings. November provided another constructive month for most hedge fund managers with the highest gains being produced by our managers in the Long/Short Equity and Event Driven strategies. In this environment, the net asset value of Alternative Investment Strategies Limited returned 1.20% over the month.

The economic background in the US, with rises reported in home prices and auto sales together with ongoing positive ISM data, 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 this month by the confirmation in the US of the dovish Janet Yellen and by the interest rate cut in Europe from the ECB, who 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 situations managers was also positive albeit not as high. However, the Fixed Income Relative Value manager suffered from fixed income and money market curve positions and produced a small loss.

Performance Summary

The net asset value performance for the month of November 2013 was 1.20%.

The net asset value performance since inception in December 1996 to 30 November 2013 is 176.94%, equivalent to an annualised rate of 6.18%.

Strategy Allocation

The strategy allocation as at 30 November 2013 was as follows:

   Strategy                                          % 
 
 Event Driven            35.3 
----------------------  ----- 
 Long/Short Equity       28.5 
----------------------  ----- 
 Cash & Receivables      26.8 
----------------------  ----- 
 Fixed Income Rel Val     4.6 
----------------------  ----- 
 Multi-Strategy           4.4 
----------------------  ----- 
 Macro                    0.3 
----------------------  ----- 
 Credit                   0.1 
----------------------  -----

Source of data: International Asset Management Limited

Investments

The investments held as at 30 November 2013 were as follows:

   Investments                                                                  % 
 
 Cash and Receivables                  26.7 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 Brevan Howard Credit Catalysts        16.7 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 Stelliam                              15.3 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 RimRock High Income                   13.2 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 Malta MLC                             12.9 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 ECF Value                              5.4 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 Illiquid holdings without standard 
  redemption frequencies                5.1 
------------------------------------  ----- 
 Prologue                               4.7 
------------------------------------  -----

Source of data: International Asset Management Limited

General Information

Investment Manager: International Asset Management Limited

Website: www.aisinvest.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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