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Overview

Share Class

NAV

Cumulative Performance (%)

Fund Inception 3 November 2022

Daily Monthly Ytd 1Yr 3Yr 5Yr Incept. Incept.Date

The performance data shown represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. The investment return and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.


Strategy & Manager

Fund Strategy

The Alma Gramercy EMD UCITS is a long-only emerging markets debt (“EMD”) which seeks to outperform EM Debt markets by applying Gramercy’s symbiotic top-down / bottom-up approach to build a blended portfolio of hard currency sovereign debt, local currency sovereign debt and hard currency corporate debt.

The EM Debt investment team led by Portfolio Managers Philip Meier and Belinda Hill, each with over 15 years’ experience managing EM debt funds and a team of experienced dedicated analysts. The two Portfolio Managers also benefit from the support of a dedicated top-down view group led by Mohamed A. El-Erian, which builds investment themes and directional market views.


Investment Manager

Gramercy is a $5.0 billion asset management firm dedicated to emerging markets, founded in 1998 by CIO Robert Koenigsberger and chaired by Mohamed A. El-Erian. The firm is headquartered in Greenwich, CT with offices in London, Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

 

Key Persons

Philip Meier –  Managing Director, Head of Emerging Markets Debt, Multi-Asset Portfolio Manager

Mr. Meier brings more than 15 years of investment experience to Gramercy. He is Head of EM Debt and Portfolio Manager of Gramercy’s Multi-Asset Strategies. Based out of the London office, Mr. Meier is also an integral part of expanding the firm’s coverage of CEEMEA and Asia and serves as a member of Gramercy’s Global Investment Committee, Public Credit Investment Committee, Global Research Committee and Top-Down View Group.

Prior to joining Gramercy, Mr. Meier spent nearly five years at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) where he was a senior member of the Emerging Markets Debt Portfolio Management Team. Mr. Meier was instrumental in developing LGIM’s emerging markets credit capabilities from inception, which grew to nearly $2 billion in dedicated funds during his tenure. Mr. Meier was the Co-Portfolio Manager of the L&G Emerging Markets Bond Fund, L&G Emerging Markets Short Duration Bond Fund and LGIM’s Emerging Markets Debt Absolute Return Strategy. The former two funds generated significant alpha in the 1, 3 and inception to date categories, and the Absolute Return Strategy had a Sharpe Ratio of 2 during his nearly 4 year management.

In addition to LGIM, Mr. Meier’s emerging markets credit experience includes time with AXA Investment Managers as Senior Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets Fixed Income, in London. He began his emerging markets credit investing career with Deutsche Asset Management in Frankfurt. Mr. Meier graduated from the European Business School in Germany and holds an MBA-equivalent (“Diplom-Kaufmann”) in Finance & Banking.

Belinda Hill, CFA – Managing Director, Emerging Markets Debt Portfolio Manager

Ms. Hill has 20 years of investment and research experience in emerging markets. She is a Co-Portfolio Manager for Gramercy’s long-only EMD strategies and a Senior Research Analyst for the firm’s alternative portfolios. Ms. Hill also serves as a member of the Investment Committee and participates on the firm’s weekly top down and bottom-up meetings.

Prior to joining Gramercy, Ms. Hill spent three years as an Emerging Markets Analyst at Apollo Global Management. At Apollo, she analyzed sovereign, quasi-sovereign, and corporate issuers across all sectors and was also responsible for sourcing and evaluating new strategic initiatives and private opportunities. Prior to Apollo, Ms. Hill worked at Schroders Investment Management for two years as an Emerging Markets Corporate Credit Analyst. There she conducted fundamental research on investment grade and high yield credit across all sectors. She also provided various portfolio managers with value-add actionable trading recommendations for Latin America based on fundamental and relative value analysis. Ms. Hill also worked at HPP, PepsiCo and Credit Suisse. Ms. Hill received her BA in Business Administration from Georgetown University where she graduated Cum Laude. Additionally, Ms. Hill is a CFA Charterholder.


Statistics & Commentary

Performance

The performance data shown represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. The investment return and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Investment Manager's Commentary

as of 31/08/2023

Market Review and Outlook

August was a tumultuous month for markets as treasury volatility reared its ugly head again. The sell off in US Treasuries was fast and furious with 10 and 30-year Treasuries selling off 22bps and 28bps, respectively, during just the first week of the month. This move was driven by the release of the US government’s fiscal plan which showed much higher than expected financing needs, increasing fears over future UST supply, and coincided with Fitch’s downgrade of US sovereign debt from AAA to AA+. While a softer than expected July jobs report provided a short reprieve, 10 and 30-year Treasuries continued their climb higher, reaching levels not seen in fourteen years (4.3% and 4.4%, respectively), as the market remained concerned over (1) Japanese demand for US Treasuries post the BOJ’s tweak in Yield Curve Control policies, (2) stronger economic data signaling a push out of recession risks and reinforcing the higher for longer rates narrative and (3) concerns over upside risks to inflation on the back of rising commodity prices driven by supply side factors. Oil prices, in particular, as measured by the WTI index rose almost 16% in July and another 3% in August to end at a year-to-date highs $83.6. The Treasury market finally took a breather towards the end of the month on the back of soft PMIs in the US, EU and the UK and 10 and 30-year Treasuries rallied to end the month only 15 and 22bps wider on the month. Nonetheless, given the significant US Treasury volatility and mounting concerns over weakening Chinese demand and stalling growth prospects, risk assets were negatively impacted in August. In this context, the JPM Equal
Weight Index returned -1.55% in August while the Fund returned -2.22% (I USD ACC).

In terms of return streams, EM corporates outperformed in August with the CEMBI Broad Diversified down only 0.6% on the back of its low duration (only 4.8 years). EM local sovereigns underperformed with the GBI-Broad diversified index down 4.2% as the US Dollar strengthened significantly on the back of higher rates expectations in the US. EM Hard Currency Sovereigns performed better than EM Local Sovereigns with the EMBI Global Diversified (EMBIGD) index losing only 2.1% in August but still worse than EM corporates given higher duration of 6.2 years. On a total return basis, the high yield component of the EMBIGD index outperformed the IG component by 20bps during the month mostly due to the duration differential (4.9 vs 8.3 years). The same was observed in the corporate space with HY outperforming IG by 90bps on a total return basis.

Performance for the Fund during the month of August was driven by the fund’s positioning in local markets, which underperformed on the back of US Treasury volatility and higher for longer US rates expectations despite key EM Central Banks having started to embark on their rate cutting cycle and continuing to provide very attractive carry. Our exposure to the distressed China property space was also a detractor this month as sentiment turned more negative on Chinese growth prospects. Nonetheless, we believe the balance of risks in China remain skewed to the upside with more policy support forthcoming as the government looks to meet its internal targets. These factors were partially offset by our overweight allocation to high yield EM
corporates, which proved to be resilient during the month of August


Facts & Documents

Facts

Fund Domicile: Luxembourg

Fund Type: UCITS SICAV

Fund Launch: 3 November 2022

Base Currency: USD

Depositary, Administrator, Transfert Agent: BNP Paribas SA

Dealing: Each day with a 1-day notice

Cut-off time: 12 pm CET

Management Company: Alma Capital Investment Management

Investment Manager: Gramercy Funds Management LLC (US)

Countries where the fund is registered:
Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland

Sustainability-related disclosures:
The information related to the integration of sustainability risks and to the potential adverse sustainability impacts at the sub-fund level can be found in the prospectus of the Fund.

Identifiers:

Institutional USD Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU2485348770   Ticker: ALGIIUC LX    Launch: 3 Nov 2022

Institutional USD Distribution share class
ISIN: LU2485348853   Ticker: ALGMIUD LX    Launch: 6 Feb 2023

Institutional EUR hedged Distribution share class
ISIN: LU2485349232   Ticker: ALGIEHD LX    Launch: 6 Feb 2023

Institutional GBP hedged Distribution share class
ISIN: LU2485348937   Ticker: ALGIGHD LX    Launch: 6 Feb 2023

Documents

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PROSPECTUS
  1. ACIF Prospectus
KIDS Other sub-funds and other languages
available upon request