Tim Carleton’s Auscap fronts up with new long-only fund
Australia’s mid-cap fund space is about to get busier.
Long-short boutique Auscap Asset Management is getting into the long-only game, launching a midcap Australian equities fund on December 1. Auscap co-founder and chief investment officer Tim Carleton will be in charge of the new fund, assisted by deputy portfolio manager Will Mumford and investment manager Gavin Rogers.
Auscap Asset Management’s Tim Carleton. Alastair Bett
While many names will overlap between Auscap’s two strategies, the new fund will differ in holding a higher number of positions – 50 plus versus 35-or-so – and be less concentrated at the top end. Auscap long-only will invest in the ASX 300, excluding the top 20 names, and be index aware at the sector level.
For example, looking at the top 20 holdings on the long-short fund, long-only will likely exclude Macquarie and $170 million market cap MotorCycle Holdings.
Fee-wise, Auscap will seek to go up against growth-orientated rivals such as Bennelong ex-20 Australian equities and the Hyperion Global Growth Companies Fund by offering a lower fee structure to its existing strategy.
Others competing for investors in this space are WAM Capital, First Sentier ex-20 Australian Share and Pendal MidCap.
Auscap joins a range of firms launching funds into the small-to-mid-cap space this year including Tyndall Asset Management and Eley Griffiths. Sources said the launch is driven by a desire to cater to investors who don’t want or can’t buy long-short funds, such as advised investors.
Historically, $300 million Auscap has had more wins on the long side of the ledger, where it’s made most of its calls, returning 11.4 per cent in the year to August 31 and 15.6 per cent annualised since inception. It had a good
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