Commentaries

Dear Unitholders, The Pender Alternative Arbitrage Fund was up 0.9%[1] in February 2024. The Fund’s benchmark, the HFRI ED: Merger Arbitrage Index (USD) returned -0.2% during the same period. M&A Market Update Through mid-March Global M&A Activity totaled $630 billion, a 42% increase from last year as M&A activity continues to recover.[2] North America is […]

Highlights Cash and T-bill holdings have been reduced by about 20% of net asset value to improve portfolio yield. Additions to loan holdings, with current yields from mid-7% to mid-8%, include high quality businesses like Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) and Transdigm Group Inc. (NYSE: TDG). The Pender Alternative Absolute Return Fund finished February […]

Highlights: Positive contributors included convertible notes from Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. and Bandwidth Inc., and from our position in Lucid Group. A few weak spots included our position in the credit of SSR Mining Inc due to operational challenges at that company's Copler mine in Turkey. However, we believe the credit coverage of the 2039 notes […]

Highlights After a positive end to 2023 which saw several key deals held by the Fund close, January had muted activity due to seasonality. The Fund initiated positions in 15 new merger deals. Six deals held within the Fund closed. There are signs of renewed interest in smaller cap companies. Dear Unitholders, The Pender Alternative […]

Highlights A major theme in January was the reopening of the primary market in North American liquid credit, following limited issuance in late 2023. The Pender Alternative Absolute Return Fund selectively participated in new issues in both investment grade and high yield markets. We focused on high-yield bonds with all-in yields of 7% or more, […]

Highlights: Through December and January, the Fund initiated a position in the bonds of Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. which is the largest worldwide pure-play company in the mining and refining of platinum group metals. January saw a selloff in Canadian investment grade bonds and limited gains in high yield indices. Esperion Therapeutics Inc. was the Fund’s […]

Highlights Positive performance in the Fund during the quarter was driven by by D2L Inc. (TSX: DTOL), Dye & Durham Ltd. (TSX: DND) and KKR and Co L.P (NYSE: KKR), Detractors included Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), Tiny Ltd. (CVE: TINY) and Texas Pacific Land Trust (NYSE: TPL). The Fund increased exposure to Canadian equities to […]

"The main reason investors struggle with how to react to bad news is that they really haven't figured out why they own the stocks they own." - Bill Nygren Highlights Solid quarter caps off positive year for both relative and absolute performance. At year-end, equity exposure was approximately 58.3%, fixed income and credit at 34.3% […]

Highlights The strong performance into year-end is indicative of a strengthening small cap market. A more stable interest rate environment and improved business strategies among small caps, we believe, will lead to increased M&A by both private equity firms and strategic buyers. We have streamlined the number of positions in the portfolio from 61 to […]