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Overview

Alma Recurrent Global Natural Resources Fund invests primarily in publicly traded equity of global natural resource-related companies, operating in a capacity related to the supply, production, distribution, refining, transportation and consumption.
The fund’s management is delegated to Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC.

Share Class

NAV

Cumulative Performance (%)

Fund Inception 29 June 2018

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 Strategy seeks total return by investing in global natural resources companies within the following industries: chemicals, construction materials, containers & packaging, energy equipment & services, metals & mining, oil, gas & consumable fuels, and paper & forest products. The investment process is strongly focused on company-level valuation analysis by using detailed financial models of the companies and is designed to deliver superior buy/sell indicators throughout the cycle.


Investment Manager

Recurrent Investment Advisors is an energy specialist investment firm founded in 2017 and based in Houston, Texas. The firm is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is primarily owned by its co-founders Mark Laskin and Bradley Olsen, who both have extensive experience in energy investing. Recurrent Investment Advisors focus on public investments in natural resources and energy infrastructure.


Key Persons

Mark Laskin
Co-founder and Portfolio Manager
Before founding Recurrent Investment Advisors, Mark was the lead energy portfolio manager and Chief Investment Officer at BP Capital Fund Advisors (BPCFA), an energy-focused long-only investment management firm. Under Mark’s leadership, BPCFA grew from $50mm to nearly $400mm in assets under management in less than 3 years. BPCFA’s energy strategy was the #1 performing energy open-end mutual fund, as ranked by Morningstar, from 2013 to 2016, and its MLP strategy was in the top decile in its Morningstar category over that same time period. Mark has 13 years of additional portfolio manager experience at Van Kampen, Morgan Stanley and Invesco. As part of a diversified large cap value strategy, Mark managed more than $10 billion and has managed energy portfolios for more than 12 years. While at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Mark served as the internal head of equity investment research.
Mark earned an MBA/MA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in History from Swarthmore College

Brad Olsen
Co-founder and Portfolio Manager
Before founding Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC, Brad was the lead MLP portfolio manager for BP Capital Fund Advisors (BPCFA). Under Brad’s leadership, MLP AUM more than doubled (excluding the impact of appreciation). From 2011 to 2015, Brad led Midstream Research for Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH & Co.), where he was recognized as the top all-around stock picker in the US by the Financial Times in 2013, and the top energy stock picker in the US by Starmine in 2014. Brad also has experience as an investment analyst at Eagle Global Advisors in Houston, where he was part of a 3-person team that grew midstream/MLP AUM from $300mm to over $1bn from 2008 through 2011. He has also worked in investment roles at Millennium International and Strome Investment Management. He began his career in the UBS Investment Banking Global Energy Group in Houston. Brad earned a BA in Philosophy, Political Science, and Slavic Studies from Rice University in Houston.


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 31/10/2023

Market Review and Outlook

Performance Review
During the month of October, the Recurrent Global Natural Resources Fund fell by -6.63% net of fees, underperforming the S&P Global Natural Resources Index’s -5.02% return. During the month, overweight positions in economically sensitive sectors such as diversified metals, steel, and aluminum underperformed the broader index. In contrast, energy stocks performed better on a relative basis. Since inception, the Recurrent Global Natural Resources Strategy has outperformed the S&P Global Natural Resources Index by 17.50%, net of fees (2.56% annualized).

Investment Discussion
With global economies suffering from tepid growth and rising inflation, economic concerns loom large in investors’ minds. In industries reliant on economic growth, the concerns are only further heightened. More specifically, natural resources investors look to Chinese economic data to offer insights into the health of the world’s largest consumer of natural resources.

In November, the Chinese Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) showed the Chinese economy contracted for the 6th month in the last 7. More than other global economies, China has struggled to return to pre-COVID growth levels. The PMI index has showed signs of contraction in more than 1/3 of the months since COVID, as seen in the chart below.

In the face of weak economic growth, particularly in 2023, global natural resources equities have underperformed broader markets. In US Dollar terms, the Global Natural Resources Index has fallen -5.08%, while the MSCI World Index is up 10.68%, more than a 15% differential.
As a broader question, with economic indicators weaker and in the wake of natural resources underperformance, the question is when to increase weightings to natural resources. Surprisingly, our review of Chinese PMI and global natural resources performance since 01/01/2012 shows that there have been 7 instances where Chinese PMI made an initial fall below 50. From the first month of a <50 reading on the Chinese PMI, the average 12-month performance for global natural resources is +6.5%. Furthermore, 24-month performance is 26.6%, as shown in the table below.

In the face of weak Chinese economic data, immediate investor sentiment may be bearish. However, for those investors with a longer-term investment horizon, this analysis of natural resources industry performance demonstrates the difference between economics and investments. Importantly, in every 24 month period after an initial < 50 PMI statistic, the total return is positive, offering confidence to invest for the long term when short term economic data is weak.


Facts & Documents

Facts

Fund Domicile: Luxembourg

Fund Type: UCITS SICAV

Fund Launch: 29 June 2018

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 (LU)

Investment Manager: Recurrent Investment Management (LU)

Fund Managers: Mark Laskin & Bradley Olsen

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

Sustainability-related disclosures:
Sustainability factors are integrated into the investment decision-making process. The Investment Manager incorporates several environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) metrics as a quantitative overlay on the selection of investments. He intends to exclude companies engaged in certain activities which are deemed as harmful from an environmental or social perspective. The Investment Manager will generally exclude companies from its investible universe if those metrics reveal systemic poor environmental, social or governance practices, as reflected in third-party environmental, social or governance rankings falling below the 25th percentile. No index has been designated as a reference benchmark for this sub-fund. Further information can be found in the prospectus of the sub-fund. The extent to which the above-mentioned characteristics are met will be included in the annual report of the fund, as from the first report issued after 1 January 2022.

Identifiers:

Institutional USD Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1823602369   Ticker: ARGNIUC LX    Launch: 29 Jun 2018

Institutional EUR Capitalisation share class
ISIN: LU1845388146   Ticker: ARGNIEC LX    Launch: 29 Jun 2018

Documents

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