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 31/10/2024Market Review and Outlook
Stronger-than-expected economic data drove up interest rates, with the 5-year German yield reaching 2.27% by the end of the month: +32bps!. This increase contributed to a pullback in equity markets, as evidenced by the €STOXX 50’s -3.5% decline. Rising yields globally led to inflows into credit funds, resulting in a tightening of spreads on the cash credit index by -13 basis points, compared to the iTraxx IG, which tightened just -0.25 basis points over the month. Financial sector credits performed particularly well, with the non-financial cash index down -0.41%, while the senior financial cash index
declined more modestly by -0.26%. While financials showed relative strength compared to last year (like Credit Suisse and U.S. regional banks collapse), government bonds, have weakened, particularly France since June, followed with Germany and the U.S. also facing growing concerns over debt, deficits, and budget sustainability. Consequently, asset swap spreads over sovereign bonds have tightened, as seen in the 10-year interest rate swap vs German bond, which narrowed by -18.5 basis points over the month, nearing the zero mark. This level for Germany is unseen since the introduction of the single currency.
Fund
The recent earnings season brought mixed outcomes, especially in the technology sector, which has historically driven global stock rallies. Companies such as Microsoft and Meta Platforms reported earnings below expectations, resulting in notable stock declines. Economic data presented a mixed picture, with the U.S. economy showing resilience, while Europe appears on a less favorable trajectory. The European Central Bank’s rate cut pathway seems relatively clear over the next three meetings, whereas the Federal Reserve may introduce unexpected shifts. On the geopolitical front, the upcoming U.S. presidential election has increased volatility, as markets respond to the close race between candidates. Additionally, heightened tensions in the Middle East have further contributed to market uncertainties. The fund was adversely affected by our rates exposure, and the modest tightening of iTraxx fell short of keeping pace with the tightening of the Cash Index Spread.
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