Alma Selwood Euro High-Grade
Overview
Alma Selwood Euro High-Grade is a long only European credit investment grade fund.
The fund’s management is delegated to Selwood AM France.
Share Class
NAV
Cumulative Performance (%)
Fund Inception 15 September 2021
| 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 aims to deliver enhanced risk / returns by profiting from dislocations in the pricing of index-related credit instruments (iTraxx Main Europe). The Fund seeks to outperform standard Investment Grade Long Only cash allocations / ETF. The Fund is focused on European investment grade credit instruments, and aims to provide an alternative to traditional cash credit solutions through predominantly deploying senior tranches of CDS index-related instruments. Selwood has also sought to incorporate risk mitigation criteria for the Fund, and seeks to lower capital consumption under Solvency II.
Investment Manager
Selwood Asset Management is a London based fundamental credit investment manager, established in 2015 by Sofiane Gharred, a former partner at Chenavari and proprietary trader at Credit Agricole CIB. Created in 2020, Selwood Asset Management (France) SAS, is led by Guillaume Merle and Mathieu Labelle. The Firm is focused on managing long bias fixed income funds and seeks to develop products which utilise credit indices and derivatives.
Key Persons
Mathieu Labelle
CIO and Conducting Officer of Selwood Asset Management (France) SAS
Mathieu is a fixed income trader with 20 years’ industry experience. He has expertise across instruments, having been a market maker on structured credit and derivatives, government bonds and covered bonds.
Prior to joining Selwood, Mathieu was a senior trader at Credit Agricole CIB in London, where he spent over 15 years. At Credit Agricole CIB, Mathieu developed extensive knowledge in rates and credit trading, in both flows and structured trading. He gained expertise in identifying business opportunities, following and analysing market behaviour, and leveraging a deep understanding of financial industry to drive account and trading success.
Mathieu holds a bachelor of Physics from University of Rouen Normandie, an ITM diploma (Master) from CFPB. He was authorised by the UK’s FCA as approved person between 2005 and 2016 (MAL01151).
Thibault Brohard
Co-CIO of Selwood Asset Management (France) SAS
Thibault is a fixed income trader with 15 years’ of industry experience. He has a strong expertise in structured credit investments having been a Structured Credit Trader most of his career. Prior to joining Selwood, Thibault was a senior PM at Orchard Asset Management in London where he spent almost 6 years managing at peak a fund of circa EUR 1bn. Before that he spent 2Y at Christofferson & Rob as Director / PM to help build their structured credit derivatives fund dealing with Rec Cap transactions and acquiring portfolios of derivatives from core and non-core Bank divisions. He also worked several years in the banking industry at UBS as an Executive Director and Calyon – always as a Structured Credit Trader.
Thibault holds a Master of Science from London School of Economics and a degree from Ecole Polytechnique in France (Grande Ecole for Research and Engineering, specialisation in Economics and Applied Mathematics).
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 29/08/2025Market Review and Outlook
August brought a temporary pause in tariff-related tensions, as the U.S.’s main trade partners gained a clearer view of their respective exposures. While the U.S. administration claimed to have resolved key tariff issues, the topic remains a likely source of renewed friction. Tariffs continue to serve as a primary economic lever for Donald Trump, who is expected to maintain pressure on India, China, and possibly Europe with the threat of further trade measures.
On the monetary policy front, Trump shifted his focus to increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve. Having already floated the idea of prematurely ending Jerome Powell’s mandate, August saw the resignation of Fed Governor Kugler, reportedly forced out. Trump has now turned his attention to Lisa Cook, all while pushing aggressively for substantial rate cuts, targeting at least a 50bps cut in September. However, Powell has remained cautious, noting that the full impact of tariffs has yet to materialize. At the same time, he acknowledged a weakening labor market. As a result, we now see a 25bps cut as our central scenario.
Market reactions over the month were relatively muted. While tariff concerns eased somewhat, the perceived threat to Fed independence triggered a rally at the short end of the yield curve (2Y: -34bps), whereas the long end remained firm (30Y: +2bps). The S&P 500 declined by 0.52% in August, with low volatility as reflected by a VIX hovering around 13. In Europe, the policy path appears relatively well-defined, with softening economic data reinforcing expectations of lower interest rates. The Euro Stoxx 50 ended the month up by 0.60%, while the EUR/USD appreciated by 0.025 to close at 1.169.
On the rates side, the end of the month saw political tensions escalate in France, with a surprise no-confidence motion for the 9th of September initiated by François Bayrou. This move significantly raises the likelihood of the current government being ousted. The OAT-Bund spread widened in the final days of August, moving to 80bps on the 10Y from 68bps. This widening also weighed on broader credit spreads, with the iTraxx Main (IG 5Y) moving +4bps wider from its tight. Despite the widening in iTraxx, the cash-synthetic basis narrowed over the course of the month.
Seasonality in September warrants caution, particularly given ongoing political uncertainty in France. For our cash management we are, from long time, out of France government bonds. With the deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio at elevated levels, the prospect of forming a coalition capable of delivering meaningful reforms appears unlikely. In addition, tariff measures are expected to begin impacting both U.S. inflation and global exports. In light of these factors, we expect the index roll on September 22nd to likely exceed 60 basis points, a scenario from which we aim to capitalize.
Facts & Documents
Facts
Fund Domicile: Luxembourg
Fund Type: UCITS SICAV
Fund Launch: 15 September 2021
Base Currency: EUR
Depositary, Administrator, Transfert Agent: CACEIS Investor Services Bank S.A.
Dealing: Daily with a 2-days notice
Cut-off time: 3 pm CET
Management Company: Alma Capital Investment Management
Investment Manager: Selwood Asset Management (France) SAS
Countries where the fund is registered:
Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Finland, 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:
I1C-E
ISIN: LU2139806298
Ticker: ALSEHIE LX Equity
Launch: 15 Sep 2021
I2C-E
ISIN: LU2139806538
Ticker: ALSEHIC LX
Launch: 6 Oct 2021
I2D-E
ISIN: LU2277570862
Ticker: ALSEHDE LX Equity
Launch: 15 Sep 2021