Alma Gramercy Emerging Markets Debt
Overview
Share Class
NAV
Cumulative Performance (%)
Fund Inception 3 November 2022
| Daily | Monthly | Ytd | 1Yr | 3Yr | 5Yr | Incept. | Incept.Date |
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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 ofMarket Review and Outlook
In February, positive momentum for global risk assets, including emerging markets (EM), gave way to a more somber market sentiment as positive economic data on jobs and consumer spending in the U.S. and higher than expected inflation prints in the U.S. and several other key economies renewed concerns over the need for systemic central banks to take developed market rates higher for longer. As a result, U.S. Treasury yields resumed their move higher with the 10-yr widening 40bps to reach 3.9% and the U.S. dollar strengthening with the DXY wider by 280bps by the end of the month. In the context of this macro backdrop, the Fund gave back some of its pervious gains in February, returning -3.01% (I USD ACC) compared to the JPM Equal Weight Index return of -2.32%.
In terms of return streams, EM corporates outperformed in February with the CEMBI Broad Diversified Index down only 1.6% on the back of its low duration (only 4.25 years). EM local sovereigns underperformed with the GBI-Broad Diversified Index down 3.2% as investors turned less optimistic on peak inflation narratives and the U.S. dollar strengthened on the back of higher rates expectations in the U.S. EM hard currency sovereigns performed better than EM local sovereigns with the EMBI Global Diversified (EMBIGD) Index losing only 2.2% in February but still worse than EM corporates given higher duration of 6.75 years. The high yield component of the EMBIGD Index underperformed the IG component by 40bps during the month as the HY/IG decompression theme played out on the back of weaker risk sentiment. This was the mirror image of what happened in January when the asset class returned +3.2% and HY outperformed.
Performance for the Fund during the month of February was driven by the Fund’s positioning in local markets, which underperformed on more negative risk sentiment despite our belief that those central banks are ahead of the curve, and by our exposure to select distressed EM sovereign opportunities, which gave back some of the gains from prior months. These factors were partially offset by our overweight allocation to high yield EM corporates, which proved to be resilient during the month of February.
Facts & Documents
Facts
Fund Domicile: Luxembourg
Fund Type: UCITS SICAV
Fund Launch: 3 November 2022
Base Currency: USD
Depositary, Administrator, Transfert Agent: BNP Paribas Securities Services (LU)
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
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