Commentaries

Dear Unitholders, The Pender Alternative Arbitrage Fund and the Pender Alternative Arbitrage Plus Fund were 0.5%1   in August 2026 while the HFRI ED: Merger Arbitrage Index (USD) returned 1.9%2. M&A Market Update Global M&A activity continued its strong recovery through August, with approximately $2.1 trillion of deal value announced during the first eight months of […]

Market Update August kept up with the theme of market volatility, as mid-cycle economic strengthening and an intensifying AI investment supercycle conflicted with the continued geopolitical conflict in the Middle East. Yet, markets proved once again that geopolitical disruption can likely be shrugged off as noise: investors spent much of the month navigating rising bond […]

The Pender Alternative Special Situations Fund returned 6.7%1 in August, compared to the S&P/TSX Composite, which rose 3.1% during the month. Fund Specific Updates Following a more challenging July, August marked a return to positive territory for the themes we most closely track, as well as several event-driven holdings contributing strongly to performance. In a […]

In August, the Fund returned 1.5%1, ahead of the Russell 2000, which declined -0.1%. 2026 has been a year where software has dominated headlines, from the SaaSpocalypse, to recovery, and back again, and August was no different. Software valuations continue to rebound off 52-week lows, although many of the names we follow have been caught […]

Market Update One phrase that I feel is true more often than not is, “markets will do what makes the most people wrong." This August seems to have captured that phrase perfectly. During what is normally one of the quietest and most volatile parts of the calendar, anyone who stepped to the sidelines missed one […]

Market Update One phrase that I feel is true more often than not is, “markets will do what makes the most people wrong". This August seems to have captured that phrase perfectly. During what is normally one of the quietest and most volatile parts of the calendar, anyone who stepped to the sidelines missed one […]

Remember when August was a month to take a break and relax? Markets certainly disagreed with that idea … instead of long summer days of leisure, investors were met with volatility and broad-based doubt about what the fall season could hold. Portfolio weights are 42.7% US equities, 32.4% Canadian equities and 13.5% international equities. August […]

Dear Unitholders, The Pender Alternative Absolute Return Fund returned -0.3%1 in August, bringing year-to-date return to 1.5%. A sharp rebound in risk assets that started in late July fizzled out in the middle of the month. Low issuance and low engagement in a late summer market helped support both credit and equity markets. Developing macro headwinds […]

August marked an important turning point for US small and mid-cap companies, as improvement in forward earnings expectations became increasingly evident. Since the Fund's launch in December 2024, two-year forward EPS growth for the S&P MidCap 400 has risen from just over 5% to roughly 18%. The improvement within the Fund has been even more […]