News & Media

A meeting of the members of the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund was held at 11.00am on 26 September 2016 in accordance with the Notice of Meeting issued on 18 August 2016.

The independent Chairman, Mr John Malon, opened the meeting and noted that there had been some recent developments in relation to the subject matter of the meeting.  In particular, the Chairman noted that Aurora had informed him that:

(a) It wished to retire as Responsible Entity under section 601FL of the Corporations Act and clause 17.1 of the Fund’s constitution;

(b) It considered it in the best interests of members of the Fund that they have a choice of responsible entities to replace it as responsible entity of the Fund; and

(c) It requested that the meeting be adjourned to allow unitholders the opportunity to consider the alternatives and to receive additional information in relation to them.

The Chairman indicated that it was appropriate to adjourn the meeting to enable additional options to be put before the members of the Fund and for the relevant additional information to be provided to them.

It was indicated that notices of the meetings and additional information would be despatched as soon as possible, expected to be within the next 3 weeks.

The Chairman noted that Aurora was not yet in a position to confirm the date on which the meetings will be held, partly due to uncertainty surrounding the Chairman’s availability for the meeting.  However, it was stated that the objective was for the meetings to be held in early November.

The Chairman declared the meeting of the Fund adjourned to the place and time specified in a notice of adjourned meeting to be issued by Aurora and thanked unitholders for their attendance.

Aside from employing over 200,000 Australians and touching every sector of the Australian economy, the four major banks plus the two regionals comprise 25% of the ASX200 and are the four largest stocks listed on the ASX with a combined market value of A$380 billion. Assessing future prospects for the major banks is currently one of the biggest issues facing Australian equity fund managers and retail investors alike. Indeed over the past week the in the financial press there have been articles  advocating a zero weighting to banks and another one on Tuesday morning recommending that bank shares are historically cheap and should be scooped up with abandon. We see that the current investment case for the banks lies between these two extremes.

After several years of delivering strong profit and dividend growth, primarily due to the tailwind of declining bad debt charges, in 2016 bank share prices have been sold off, with most of the pain falling on the two banks most heavily weighted to domestic housing,  Westpac (-8%) and Commonwealth Bank (-10%).  Paradoxically in the current yield-hungry environment, ANZ has been the best performer, despite cutting its dividend in May. In this piece we are going to look at the causes of this correction and some thoughts for the future.

Read more here.

The directors of the responsible entity unanimously recommend that you vote AGAINST all of the resolutions.

Read the full Explanatory Memorandum here.

Hugh Dive discusses REITs on ShareCafe.

Hugh Dive discusses Shorting on ShareCafe.

The directors of the responsible entity unanimously recommend that you vote AGAINST all of the resolutions.

Read the full Explanatory Memorandum here.

Written by Vesna Poljak  of the Australian Financial Review.

“That’s no different to what’s happening to the former supermarket duopoly, says fund manager Hugh Dive from Aurora Funds Management. “What’s a bigger issue for me which hasn’t really been focused on in the market is Suncorp and IAG are facing market share losses through a bunch of challenger brands. It’s a bit like what’s going on in grocery. The higher margins have given the Aldis of their world more oxygen and the ability to nibble away at market share,” he says.”

Read more here.

The directors of the responsible entity unanimously recommend that you vote AGAINST all of the resolutions.

Read the full Explanatory Memorandum here.

Aurora Funds Management Limited (“Aurora”) is pleased to announce that daily applications and redemptions will be reinstated for the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund and the Aurora Absolute Return Fund. The daily application and redemption facility is available from 8 September 2016.

Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund

Aurora Absolute Return Fund

Aurora Funds Management Limited (“Aurora”) provides the following update in respect of the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund (the “Fund”).

Antares Convertible Note Update

As at 30 June 2016, the Fund held investments in Antares Energy Limited Convertible Notes (ASX: AZZG), which had been suspended from trading on the Australian Stock Exchange on 15 September 2015 and remain suspended as at the date of this update.

In February 2016, Aurora made the decision to freeze applications and redemptions in the Fund, on the basis that it could not accurately determine a value for the AZZG Notes.

For the purposes of the June 2016 year-end financial statements, and after careful consideration of all of the available information, Aurora has formed the view that the AZZG Notes should be recognised at a nil value.

Aurora Global Income Trust update (AIB)

Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund (AFARF)

Aurora Absolute Return Fund (ABW)