The fund has a very broad mandate, being able to invest at any level of a company, including fixed income. The fund’s lead manager Robert Holmes seeks to provide clients with 50-70% of the upside from the markets he invests in, while limiting the downside to less than 30%.
The fund follows a bottom-up stock picking approach. It will typically have the heaviest weightings in Russia and Turkey and have a concentrated portfolio of around 50 positions.
The fund has four sub-strategies, namely core value holdings, short term trading opportunities, yield, and hedging. The managers follow an active approach to reducing volatility within the portfolio: the emphasis is on giving investors that ‘sleep at night’ factor they would not have had when investing in other similar regional funds.
Portfolio manager Holmes observes that the region as a whole is vastly more stable than it was in the 1990s, offering some extremely diverse investment themes. His preferred area of focus is large and mid-tier companies. The team, which includes three analysts, places emphasis on the quality of the management of the companies they invest in. Understanding of major strategic themes, like deregulation or political risk, is critical.
The fund management team is based in London, which they find is a good base for corporate access. They also have the advantage of being able to draw upon an internal database of proprietary analytics devised by Jurgen Kirsch.
The fund is able to sell currently 83% of the portfolio with immediate liquidity. This is based on 30% of the average daily trading volume over the previous 30 days.
About the managers
Lead manager Robert Holmes joined Griffin Capital Management in November 2006 and has 15 years experience in Eastern European markets. Jurgen Kirsch, a former manager of the Mercury Eastern European Fund in the mid-1990s, also helps manage this fund by providing strategic advice.
Key details
Fund name Griffin Eastern European Value Fund
Management company Griffin Capital Management
Promoter Griffin Capital Management
Status Open
Inception date 26th November 2009
Strategy
Kind of fund Hedge Fund
Strategy group Long/short
Region Europe Emerging
Asset classes Equities
Particulars
Currency EUR
Share class name Class A
ISIN IE00B53RWD94
Domicile Ireland
Listing Irish Stock Exchange
Fund structure Investment Company with Variable Capital
NAV calculation Daily
Liquidity Daily
Notice (banking days) 2
Minimum investment 5,000
Min. investment currency EUR
Fees
Entry fee 0%
Exit fee 0%
Management fee 2%
Performance fee 20%
High water mark Yes
Hurdle rate No
Analysis (to 20th Nov 2010)
Current YTD 7.13%
Annualised return 11.55%
Annualised volatility 7.60%
Sharpe ratio (2%) 1.26
Correlation to S&P 500 29.02%
Correlation to iBoxx -31.84%
Service providers
Administrator BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (International)
Custodian BNY Mellon International Bank
Auditor Deloitte
