Alma Gramercy Emerging Markets Debt
Overview
Alma Gramercy Emerging Markets Debt is a long-only emerging markets debt fund.
The fund’s management is delegated to Gramercy Funds Management.
Share Class
NAV
Cumulative Performance (%)
Fund Inception 3 November 2022
| 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 to outperform emerging market debt (EMD) 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 Funds Management is a $5.9 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 17 years of investment experience to Gramercy. He is Head of EM Debt and Portfolio Manager of Gramercy’s Multi-Asset Strategies. 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. 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
Managing Director, Emerging Markets Debt Portfolio Manager
Ms. Hill has 22 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. 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. 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 of 31/05/2024Market Review and Outlook
Global risk sentiment was positive in May as data in the U.S. turned more negative and weakened the higher rates for longer mantra that had been dominating fixed income markets for the last several months. Most significantly, unemployment ticked up to 3.9% as payrolls missed and U.S. jobless claims rose more than expected at the beginning of the month. These signs that the U.S. labor market might finally be cooling off brought back hopes of a soft landing and drove U.S. Treasuries to the lows of the month halfway into May. As an example, the 10-year U.S. Treasury rallied 34bps during the first two weeks of May to reach 4.3%. While significant supply during the second half of the month caused U.S. Treasuries to give back some of these gains, we still ended the month with tighter U.S. rates as the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the core personal consumer expenditure deflator, came in weaker than expected at 0.2% MoM for April, showing some disinflation momentum. As such, the 10-year U.S. Treasury ended the month at 4.50%, 18bps below April’s month end level. In this context, the Fund (I USD ACC) returned 1.85% compared to the JPM EM Equal Weight Index return of 1.62%.
In terms of return streams, all emerging markets (“EM”) fixed income sub-asset classes had strong results during the month of May. EM Hard Currency Sovereigns, as represented by the EMBI Global Diversified index, outperformed, with an aggregate return of 1.8% (investment grade and high yield components returned 2.1% and 1.5% respectively). EM Local Currency Sovereigns, as represented by the GBI-Broad Diversified Index, and EM Hard Currency Corporates, as represented by the CEMBI Broad Diversified Index, returned 1.6% and 1.5% respectively, in May. Within corporates, returns for investment grade and high yield were the same.
Fund
During the month of May, performance for the Fund largely benefited from our tactical exposure to select China property credits that rallied on the back of supportive policy measures announced by the government, our positioning in long duration investment grade corporate credits with convexity that benefited from the Treasury rally in the U.S. and our positioning in select high yield corporate credits and local currency sovereign credits in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Chile, that rallied on the back of positive global risk sentiment. These factors were partially offset by our under allocation to investment grade sovereigns and our exposure to Mexican local currency credit, the latter of which was negatively impacted by the Morena party securing a super majority in Congress and raising concerns regarding the potential for future fiscal slippage.
Facts & Documents
Facts
Fund Domicile: Luxembourg
Fund Type: UCITS SICAV
Fund Launch: 3 November 2022
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
Investment Manager: Gramercy Funds Management LLC (US)
Countries where the fund is registered:
Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland
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
Institutional USD Distribution share class
ISIN: LU2485348853
Ticker: ALGMIUD LX
Launch: 6 Feb 2023
Institutional EUR hedged Distribution share class
ISIN: LU2485349232
Ticker: ALGIEHD LX
Launch: 6 Feb 2023
Institutional GBP hedged Distribution share class
ISIN: LU2485348937
Ticker: ALGIGHD LX
Launch: 6 Feb 2023