# ALF - Australian Leaders Fund



## So_Cynical (29 August 2011)

Australian Leaders Fund (ALF) is the new name of Wilson Leaders (WLS). Previous discussion on WLS can be found here: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1702 

------------------------

ALF is a LIC that operates a little differently from the norm...while they come across as value type stock pickers they also short stocks using a reverse value stock picking criteria probably much better explained by them. 
http://www.australianleaders.com.au/aboutalf/investment-process.aspx

Company Summary:

Market Cap: 76 mill.
52-wk High: 1.31
52-wk Low: 1.015
First listed: Feb 04
Gross portfolio increased 28.5% in the 12 months to June 2011
2011 After Tax profit of 14.1 mill up 10.7% year on year
Has Paid 8 consecutive half year FF dividends.
Gross Dividend yield 12%
The fund incurs a management fee of 1% of gross assets.
A 20% fee is applicable if the fund outperforms the All Ords Accumulation Index.

2011 Preliminary financial report can be read here.
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20110819/pdf/420hp14d610wr2.pdf

-----------------------------

So i opened a new position in ALF today @ 1.19 ~ dividend to come (12% Gross factored forward) and with a bit of a rally its not to hard to see a small profitable exit appearing somewhere down the road.

ALF is a small fund that hasn't captured much support from the investment community and the charts not that flash as far as growth goes, but the dividends have been good over the last 3 years and this market really suits their investment style and should continue to suit going forward...I've watched with interest for 3 years and now ALF is worth a conservative punt for me.

5 year chart and fund performance below.
~


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## skc (29 August 2011)

So_Cynical said:


> Australian Leaders Fund (ALF) is the new name of Wilson Leaders (WLS). Previous discussion on WLS can be found here: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1702
> 
> ------------------------
> 
> ...




Everything looked OK until the last bullet point! That is a very expensive performance fee. I hope it is only on absolute performance (e.g. if XAOAI loses 15% and ALF loses only 10%, do they still get paid 20% performance fee?)

And what's up with the company doing a SPP AND a share buyback at the same time? They either need more cash or they have too much cash. Are they just arbitraging their own share?  

And they were short Minara at end of July... I hope they covered before the takeover.


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## So_Cynical (29 August 2011)

skc said:


> Everything looked OK until the last bullet point! That is a very expensive performance fee. I hope it is only on absolute performance (e.g. if XAOAI loses 15% and ALF loses only 10%, do they still get paid 20% performance fee?)
> 
> And what's up with the company doing a SPP AND a share buyback at the same time? They either need more cash or they have too much cash. Are they just arbitraging their own share?
> 
> And they were short Minara at end of July... I hope they covered before the takeover.




Yeah im with ya...they did have some bad shorts and bad longs...and the SPP and buyback at the same time seems a little weird to me too, and they do a SPP every year, at the same time of year. :dunno: im just a punter and not a highly paid investment professional like these guys.


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## skc (29 August 2011)

So_Cynical said:


> Yeah im with ya...they did have some bad shorts and bad longs...and the SPP and buyback at the same time seems a little weird to me too, and they do a SPP every year, at the same time of year. :dunno: im just a punter and not a highly paid investment professional like these guys.




The good thing about LIC doing SPP is that they tend to do so at NTA without much discount so no one is diluted. It's just people giving them more money to invest. LIC also do buybacks regularly if the share price is too far below NTA. But doing both at the same time just seems to enrich the brokers...


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## So_Cynical (5 April 2012)

Seven months after my entry and im slightly in front mostly due to the generous dividend reinvestment plan and not taking an average down when i should of....ALF have issued shares for the last DRP at a price that is less the dividend  and at a 3% discount. 

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20120402/pdf/425d7mrps0wdtz.pdf

I've never struck this before...pretty cool hey, ALF were trading at 1.21 before the x date, then drop 5 cents (the dividend) on the ex date and i get issued shares at 1.12 (with the 3% discount) in the money straight away....a week later and ALF traded at 1.16 today.

Nice. 

Reading back over the previous DRP issue announcements this seems to be the first time ALF has done this...hope its not the last.

--------------------

1 year chart below showing my 2 buys and 2 div reinvestments...also clearly showing that i should of taken an average down at under 1.07 cos id be laughing now if i did.
~


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## So_Cynical (24 May 2012)

ALF release quarterly reports to keep investors up to date with how the fund is travelling etc, and as is common now with fund managers they like to sprinkle in a little commentary on how they think the World and Australia is doing, the possible ramifications and opportunities of that analysis and their investment rationale for 4 or 5 of the funds investments.

The latest quarterly report (18 pages) is quite an interesting read...stocks covered are TLS DUE HDF QRN and TCL

http://www.australianleaders.com.au...ns/201204 ALF Quarterly Report April 2012.pdf


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## So_Cynical (8 August 2012)

So_Cynical said:


> ALF release quarterly reports to keep investors up to date with how the fund is travelling etc, and as is common now with fund managers they like to sprinkle in a little commentary on how they think the World and Australia is doing, the possible ramifications and opportunities of that analysis and their investment rationale for 4 or 5 of the funds investments.
> 
> The latest quarterly report (18 pages) is quite an interesting read...stocks covered are TLS DUE HDF QRN and TCL
> 
> http://www.australianleaders.com.au...ns/201204 ALF Quarterly Report April 2012.pdf




The June quarterly report and commentary was released today...again making for very interesting reading.

http://www.wfunds.com.au/fundreports/ALF_2012_June_Q2_Doc_WEB.pdf

BHP gets a well deserved beating and there is a concise and damming assessment of the world economy and out look...interesting to note the short term performance of the fund with the following 1 and 3 month long and short returns. Losing money with there longs and shorts. :dunno:

1 MONTH 
long  -2.0% 
short -4.5% 

3 MONTHS 
long  -7.8%
short -12.6%


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## So_Cynical (31 August 2012)

So_Cynical said:


> (29th-August-2011)
> So i opened a new position in ALF today @ 1.19 ~ dividend to come (12% Gross factored forward) and with a bit of a rally its not to hard to see a small profitable exit appearing *somewhere down the road*.




That point "somewhere down the road" was arrived at this week...trade #92 closed with a 6.92% profit at $1.28 CPS, with dividends and credits closer to a 17% return so overall not to shabby.

I think every large (number of stocks) diversified portfolio should include a LIC or 2 or 3 even...as per my LCEAA strategy i have left approximately 35% of my capital in with 100% of my profits as a long term hold and passive income producer...my average holding price is now $1.16 

Keen to re-enter at around the $1.08 level...2 year chart below showing all my activity, also showing that you don't have to buy the bottom, sell your losers, dollar cost average, or any of the other crap...just buy good stocks cheap and wait till you can sell em for more than you paid for em. 
~


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## herzy (1 September 2012)

Interesting read SC, and good work on the profitable outcome. Why the second purchase? Looks a little odd...


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## So_Cynical (1 September 2012)

herzy said:


> Interesting read SC, and good work on the profitable outcome. Why the second purchase? Looks a little odd...




Odd yes, its was a very premature average down...from memory i had a little spare cash and need to put it into something and ALF was the chosen something, as my original entry was at the lower end of my typical entry size.

If i have learnt anything over the last 5 years it is that i can tend to be a little ahead of the curve...in to early, as was clearly the case here.


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## herzy (1 September 2012)

Ah well i think there's more danger in trying to time the market. I spose it looks odder in hindsight too than it would have at the time.


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## princeplanet (8 March 2013)

Just found this as yet another neglected high yielding stock that should be mentioned more. Big div coming up, I'm thinking of getting in. Anything I should be aware of?


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## catfish (8 March 2013)

princeplanet said:


> Just found this as yet another neglected high yielding stock that should be mentioned more. Big div coming up, I'm thinking of getting in. Anything I should be aware of?




It is trading at a decent premium to NTA, why would anyone pay over book for this?  You could easily assemble your own portfolio with the same holdings without management fees and at value, not above.


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## princeplanet (8 March 2013)

catfish said:


> It is trading at a decent premium to NTA, why would anyone pay over book for this?  You could easily assemble your own portfolio with the same holdings without management fees and at value, not above.




Maybe, but it would save me a lot of time......


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## mgm1a (8 March 2013)

catfish said:


> It is trading at a decent premium to NTA, why would anyone pay over book for this?



 because they know how to make money beyond the level of their assets (NTA) 



> You could easily assemble your own portfolio with the same holdings without management fees and at value, not above.



 - you don't know all the portfolio , it changes often and they SHORT as well as go long - you need staff, time and experience I would suggest to do all that well - ceratinly out of my league


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## So_Cynical (8 March 2013)

princeplanet said:


> Just found this as yet another neglected high yielding stock that should be mentioned more. Big div coming up, I'm thinking of getting in. *Anything I should be aware of?*




This stock has run very very hard, so you should ALWAYS be aware of the potential to buy a/the top....no biggy if your a trendy and happy to lose 4 or 5% with a stop.

You should also be aware that ALF have and will issue a **** load of new shares over the next 2 months or so..lots of new shares coming onto the market can often lead to price volatility.


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## Julia (20 October 2013)

SC, are you still holding some of ALF?
Following an article in the Weekend Australian on LICs I've had a look at a few of them.  ALF has a pretty attractive grossed up yield.


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## Boggo (20 October 2013)

Julia said:


> SC, are you still holding some of ALF?
> Following an article in the Weekend Australian on LICs I've had a look at a few of them.  ALF has a pretty attractive grossed up yield.




Holding ALF in my SMSF Julia, paid a divvy last week. It's been doing what it should for a while now.


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## Judd (20 October 2013)

It does have a high yield.

Merely an observation in that it isn't a plain vanilla LIC as is ARG , MLT, AFI and various other older LICs.  It is a Long/Short fund.

As at end September 2013 it has 60.9% of its funds in equities with 175.1% long and 114.1% short.

Also the fund incurs a management fee of 1% of the Gross assets as well as a 20% performance fee if the fund outperfoms the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index.  So shareholders are paying 1% on the 39.1% in cash or equivalent (which is passive income I'd really like) and 1% plus performance fee on the Gross 289.2% of FUM which effectively is much higher than a headline of 1%.

Not saying it is no good just be aware of the fees being paid and what they are being paid on.


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## So_Cynical (20 October 2013)

Julia said:


> SC, are you still holding some of ALF?
> Following an article in the Weekend Australian on LICs I've had a look at a few of them.  ALF has a pretty attractive grossed up yield.




Yes Julia im still holding for long term yield, my average price is $1.16 so sitting on a handsome capital gain of around 50% and pulling a ROIC gross dividend yield of 13.4% ~ i like the long short aspect of the fund and so don't see it as a negative at all especially in a diversified portfolio.

Of course with any fund that operates a little differently (good decision dependant) one should expect some variation in dividend yield, again this variation suits me as i hold a large (many stocks) portfolio and concentrate on entry timing so overall benefit from volatility.


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## Julia (20 October 2013)

Boggo said:


> Holding ALF in my SMSF Julia, paid a divvy last week. It's been doing what it should for a while now.



Yes, in a reasonably strong uptrend and trading above the EMA since July.  Liquidity has improved over the same period.



Judd said:


> It does have a high yield.
> 
> Merely an observation in that it isn't a plain vanilla LIC as is ARG , MLT, AFI and various other older LICs.  It is a Long/Short fund.
> 
> As at end September 2013 it has 60.9% of its funds in equities with 175.1% long and 114.1% short.



That's partly what attracted me, Judd.



> Also the fund incurs a management fee of 1% of the Gross assets as well as a 20% performance fee if the fund outperfoms the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index.  So shareholders are paying 1% on the 39.1% in cash or equivalent (which is passive income I'd really like) and 1% plus performance fee on the Gross 289.2% of FUM which effectively is much higher than a headline of 1%.



Offputting.  



So_Cynical said:


> Yes Julia im still holding for long term yield, my average price is $1.16 so sitting on a handsome capital gain of around 50% and pulling a ROIC gross dividend yield of 13.4% ~ i like the long short aspect of the fund and so don't see it as a negative at all especially in a diversified portfolio.
> 
> Of course with any fund that operates a little differently (good decision dependant) one should expect some variation in dividend yield, again this variation suits me as i hold a large (many stocks) portfolio and concentrate on entry timing so overall benefit from volatility.



That entry must have been quite some time ago, SC.  Good capital gain.  Did you have any concern about buying when it appears to have been pretty thinly traded?  I always like to be able to get out quickly if necessary.


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## Judd (21 October 2013)

Julia said:


> Offputting.




Maybe, maybe not.  Depends on whether one is happy to pay for the outcome.

The benchmark for payment of the performance fee could appear to be low to some people.  The fund simply has to outperform the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index.  No AOAI plus 5% or anything like that.  Last year, apart from the $70k in directors fees, the manager of the fund, of which Mr Braitling is the sole Director and beneficial owner, was paid $1.4m and just under $7m in a performance fee.  Also an interesting Service Agreement where the manager pays 25% of all the managers fee and performance bonus to Boutique Asset Management which is 80% owned by entities associated with Mr Wilson.


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## Boggo (21 October 2013)

Julia said:


> Yes, in a reasonably strong uptrend and trading above the EMA since July.  Liquidity has improved over the same period.




Weekly chart displays that nicely.
(click to expand)


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## Julia (21 October 2013)

Thanks Boggo.  Bought some of these today.


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## McLovin (21 October 2013)

Judd said:


> Maybe, maybe not.  Depends on whether one is happy to pay for the outcome.
> 
> The benchmark for payment of the performance fee could appear to be low to some people.  The fund simply has to outperform the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index.  No AOAI plus 5% or anything like that.  Last year, apart from the $70k in directors fees, the manager of the fund, of which Mr Braitling is the sole Director and beneficial owner, was paid $1.4m and just under $7m in a performance fee.  Also an interesting Service Agreement where the manager pays 25% of all the managers fee and performance bonus to Boutique Asset Management which is 80% owned by entities associated with Mr Wilson.




On a gross or net basis? One of my pet peeves with these sort of companies and funds is that they take their bonus based on a the pre-tax performance but the post tax reality might be that a substantial part of the year's returns are actually going straight to the taxman. Personally, I think they should have disclose the after tax performance for a few "example investors" on different tax rates.


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## Judd (21 October 2013)

McLovin said:


> On a gross or net basis? One of my pet peeves with these sort of companies and funds is that they take their bonus based on a the pre-tax performance but the post tax reality might be that a substantial part of the year's returns are actually going straight to the taxman. Personally, I think they should have disclose the after tax performance for a few "example investors" on different tax rates.




Gross, I understand.  I had a quick read of the accounts and the net assets is $225M or so which means the actual fees of $8M represents 3.6% of net.  However, if shareholders consider this good value and the fund suits their purpose well and good as far as I am concerned.  Don't hold this particular number but I do hold WAM Capital although I have not added to my holdings for two years.


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## WRiley (18 December 2016)

Kind of got hooked onto this fund, but at a current price of $1.42, I suspect I'm kinda late to board the boat. Yield's still acceptable at 1.42 though,... all-in grossed-up at 10.2%,... fully-franked.


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## WRiley (23 December 2016)

Received an alert from my alert system that ALF dropped to a 21-day low today. Anybody knows why ??


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## monkton (11 March 2017)

WRiley said:


> Received an alert from my alert system that ALF dropped to a 21-day low today. Anybody knows why ??



ALF now trading around it's nta,dropped dividend by 1c also note John Abernathy a non-executive director, sold 50,000 shares last week & now holds only 10,000.


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## GlobeTrekker (12 March 2017)

monkton said:


> also note John Abernathy a non-executive director, sold 50,000 shares last week & now holds only 10,000.



Not a good look is it?

I used to hold ALF a while ago but not any more.  People investing ALF really need to understand exactly what it is that ALF does because its not like most other LICs.  Being a long/short fund means it has different risks to the others, it can easily head south when the rest of the market is powering ahead.  And I really dislike that extra performance fee for outperforming the market (though quite a few other smaller LICs charge this as well) - its not like they also refund part of their fees when they underperform the market.


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## WRiley (13 March 2017)

So,... it's been doing badly recently because the mkt has been doing well ??


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## monkton (13 March 2017)

CDM is another lic that is a long/short fund,it too was trading well above it's nta then had a pullback to around it's nta but is moving higher again now but continued to pay a good dividend.ALF still pays a reasonable dividend so will hold & watch it but perhaps not add to it yet.


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## WRiley (13 March 2017)

monkton said:


> CDM is another lic that is a long/short fund,it too was trading well above it's nta then had a pullback to around it's nta but is moving higher again now but continued to pay a good dividend.ALF still pays a reasonable dividend so will hold & watch it but perhaps not add to it yet.



That's what I'm doing too,... not adding to ALF yet, but kept thinking abt it. Reason being if ALF has potentials to rise, then buying now at depressed prices would be the right way to go !


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## monkton (13 March 2017)

True WR but then dividend is coming up will see what happens after that,main concern for me was why JA sold out of such a large percentage now before it went ex dividend.


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## WRiley (13 March 2017)

monkton said:


> True WR but then dividend is coming up will see what happens after that,main concern for me was why JA sold out of such a large percentage now before it went ex dividend.



A very obvious possibility is after XDate, the price might drop further, or,... he needed his funds badly now,...

If CDM's characteristics are exactly as ALF's, then if CDM can rise, chances for ALF would be very high. But are their characteristics really that similar ?


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## monkton (13 March 2017)

Guess you've got to believe in the management which is why we likely bought it in the first place and with lic's buying near or below nta is ideal.As to whether price drops further after Xdate guess it's a case of good tech/anal. or "Do I feel lucky?" and that's the game!


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## JTLP (13 March 2017)

Now when I see an LIC, I just think of Buffett and him placing the wager on buying an index fund over an LIC. Why wouldn't you just buy something like VAS?


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## monkton (13 March 2017)

JTLP said:


> Now when I see an LIC, I just think of Buffett and him placing the wager on buying an index fund over an LIC. Why wouldn't you just buy something like VAS?



Income for a start.VAS paying just over 4%,while these 2 LIC's are paying over 6% and have a more concentrated portfolio and are more active,yes I'm aware that more is paid in fees for this so they need to deliver.While I do have a couple of etf's, for me they're a bit too expensive at the moment.


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## WRiley (13 March 2017)

JTLP said:


> Now when I see an LIC, I just think of Buffett and him placing the wager on buying an index fund over an LIC. Why wouldn't you just buy something like VAS?



In addition to what Monkton said in the above, if things run right, the capital gain that can be made with ALF, or CDM, will be much, much more compared to something along the line of VAS,....


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## JTLP (13 March 2017)

WRiley said:


> In addition to what Monkton said in the above, if things run right, the capital gain that can be made with ALF, or CDM, will be much, much more compared to something along the line of VAS,....




So I understand Monkton's point on they feel the index has run hard, but aren't these LICs just picking longs and shorts from the same index per se?

Also, didn't Buffett's wager prove that over 10 years the ETF outperformed the LIC by 70%? So we're not talking a slight outperformance.


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## GlobeTrekker (13 March 2017)

WRiley said:


> So,... it's been doing badly recently because the mkt has been doing well ??



 No, the idea of ALF's investment methodology is that its returns are to a great extent independent of market movements.  Essentially they buy stocks that they see as undervalued, but then they also offset this by shorting (essentially selling) a similar level of stocks that they see as being undervalued.  If they offset within the same industries eg buy one mining stock and short another mining stock then if the mining industry plummets, in theory (if they pick the right long & shorts) they won't suffer as badly (or at all) because they are both long and short (essentially hedged).  It can conversely mean though that when the markets are going gangbusters, the shorts can drag on their performance.  It really relies on them getting their longs and shorts right, if they do they can seriously outperform (especially during market downturns) but if they don't then their losses can be magnified.  I sold out (luckily still at a small profit) a while ago after a period of underperformance, thinking that their investment style just wasn't for me.



JTLP said:


> Also, didn't Buffett's wager prove that over 10 years the ETF outperformed the LIC by 70%? So we're not talking a slight outperformance.



 I think he was talking about managed funds rather than LIC's per se, and their underperformance was in a big way due to the fees that they charged.  There are several big LICs that charge no fees, and whose management expense ratios are as low as 0.13%.


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## WRiley (14 March 2017)

GlobeTrekker said:


> No, the idea of ALF's investment methodology is that its returns are to a great extent independent of market movements.  Essentially they buy stocks that they see as undervalued, but then they also offset this by shorting (essentially selling) a similar level of stocks that they see as being undervalued.  If they offset within the same industries eg buy one mining stock and short another mining stock then if the mining industry plummets, in theory (if they pick the right long & shorts) they won't suffer as badly (or at all) because they are both long and short (essentially hedged).  It can conversely mean though that when the markets are going gangbusters, the shorts can drag on their performance.  It really relies on them getting their longs and shorts right, if they do they can seriously outperform (especially during market downturns) but if they don't then their losses can be magnified.  I sold out (luckily still at a small profit) a while ago after a period of underperformance, thinking that their investment style just wasn't for me.
> 
> I think he was talking about managed funds rather than LIC's per se, and their underperformance was in a big way due to the fees that they charged.  There are several big LICs that charge no fees, and whose management expense ratios are as low as 0.13%.



Tq GT,... Looks to me like this is a 'gambling ctr',...


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## GlobeTrekker (14 March 2017)

GlobeTrekker said:


> Essentially they buy stocks that they see as undervalued, but then they also offset this by shorting (essentially selling) a similar level of stocks that they see as being undervalued.



  Oops, just re-read my post - should read "they buy stocks that they see as undervalued, but then they also offset this by shorting (essentially selling) a similar level of stocks that they see as being overvalued".


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## WRiley (14 March 2017)

GlobeTrekker said:


> Oops, just re-read my post - should read "they buy stocks that they see as undervalued, but then they also offset this by shorting (essentially selling) a similar level of stocks that they see as being overvalued".



Tq for the correction,... I was confused there a moment ago,...
But it looks like their buying of undervalued stocks and shorting of overvalued stocks don't seem to be yielding a net positive result though,...Seems to be underperforming the benchmark index,.. as is with the latest reporting of NTA and Monthly Update today.


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## So_Cynical (17 March 2017)

JTLP said:


> Also, didn't Buffett's wager prove that over 10 years the ETF outperformed the LIC by 70%? So we're not talking a slight outperformance.




Looking back 10 years on the ASX, the big LIC's have substantially out performed the ETF's.

AFI Aust Foundation Investment - Vs -  STW (ASX300) the only EFT that was listed back then.
~






STW still trading under the March 2007 share price - as for ALF they are somewhat market neutral with their strategy, the share price has been a little weak as have the dividends over the last 12 months or so, they are only as good as their stock picks.


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## WRiley (17 March 2017)

Hmm,... moving forward,... are we saying that ALF may not be able to perform anymore, unlike in the past ?


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## So_Cynical (17 March 2017)

WRiley said:


> Hmm,... moving forward,... are we saying that ALF may not be able to perform anymore, unlike in the past ?




They are long short stock pickers, if they pick well they do well, i see no reason why they wouldn't do well again into the future.


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## JTLP (18 March 2017)

So_Cynical said:


> Looking back 10 years on the ASX, the big LIC's have substantially out performed the ETF's.
> 
> AFI Aust Foundation Investment - Vs -  STW (ASX300) the only EFT that was listed back then.
> ~
> ...




Thanks for this. Very interesting to see. I've got a few LICs on the list, and for my own measure may do a 50/50 split on and ETF and LIC to see how they track.


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## Miner (5 March 2019)

Hello to ALF holders and followers
Since almost last two years there was no posting on this thread and ALF also went down the hill.
The CIO has begged for the lack of performance but did not see any where if he reduced the performance fee for lack of performance. Probably would not get any fee any way unless the fine prints of performance earning is well explained to share holders. DNH. Became interested now after one newsletter heavily backing it has withdrawn its support.
https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20190226/pdf/442zl8clpx202j.pdf


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## HelloU (5 March 2019)

money where his mouth is this week for braitling - but makes me wonder where he had all that money stashed prior to the big alf buy ups recently and why it is going into alf only now (and i bet it was earning a truckload more than it would have by being invested in alf for all that time)

he might actually be the smartest manager of them all (he was smart enough to keep a chunk of his assets outside alf anyway)

hi miner, u big sweetie, watermark is braitling is alf (ur post read a little different to that)


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## Belli (6 March 2019)

It's years since I even looked at this "family" of LICs.  I've never placed any funds in any of them as I seem to recall that a number of directors had, and maybe still do, a pecuniary interest in the management company.  It put me off so I've just left them alone.


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## Miner (12 March 2019)

Belli said:


> It's years since I even looked at this "family" of LICs.  I've never placed any funds in any of them as I seem to recall that a number of directors had, and maybe still do, a pecuniary interest in the management company.  It put me off so I've just left them alone.



I have been reading your comments @Belli and noticed how one director JB has  keeping himself busy in buying CD shares almost daily. What pecuniary interest he would or could have while investing back to the company he manages?


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## Belli (14 March 2019)

To be honest I don't know.  I don't follow ALF at all - I think it was called something else at one stage.  Haven't looked at the notices but is it him directly or through other entities in which he has an interest in or controls?  Could be doing it as a trustee or as an administrator at the behest of others.

I just stay well away from these particular LIC's.  Anything they do is only a curiosity on my part if I can be sufficiently interested to even look at them, which is rare.


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## Dona Ferentes (23 March 2021)

Australian Leaders Fund (ALF) has _now sought the necessary shareholder and court approvals, with shares being suspended on 17 March and  the  scheme now legally effective. The investment  portfolio had been largely liquidated back in November 2019, excluding two immaterial securities that  were suspended,  jointly  accounting  for  less  than  0.5%  of  NTA. The reported 28 February NTA was $1.026, adjusted for the 3c scheme dividend, current  tax  liability,  operating  costs,  scheme  costs  and  Investment Management Agreement termination fee. 

ALF will reduce its capital via a one-for-one in specie distribution of new units in the *Watermark Absolute Return Fund*, with the residual post-tax cash asset of ALF also being transferred to the fund. Shareholders will receive holding statements in respect to their new units by post following implementation of the Scheme. ALF shareholders who want to withdraw their new units must return their completed Withdrawal Form and Know  Your  Client Information  Form,  together  with  any  information/ documents required by the Responsible Entity by the cut-off time each month.

The cut-off time for the first round of withdrawals will be 5.00pm on 31 March. The withdrawal price will be the NAV per unit less any applicable transaction costs._


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## System (31 March 2021)

On March 29th, 2021, Australian Leaders Fund Limited (ALF) was removed from the ASX's Official List in accordance with Listing Rule 17.11, following implementation of the scheme of arrangement between ALF and its shareholders in connection with the acquisition of all the issued capital in ALF by the Watermark Fund.


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