Commentaries

Highlights • The Fund benefited from volatility in credit markets with a bias to protecting capital. • The Fund’s exposure to event-driven positions was significantly reduced. The Pender Alternative Absolute Return Fund finished August with a return of 1.2%, bringing year-to-date returns to 5.2% . Following two months of decreasing risk premiums and volatility, both […]

Highlights: • Positive contributors to the Fund were Cineworld Group PLC and Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). Detractors included Canadian rate-reset preferred shares due to negative price momentum, and Emergent BioSolutions, which we have added to on price weakness. • New positions include Nuveen Quality Municipal Income Fund (NAD US Equity), a closed-end fund […]

Highlights: July was an active month for the Fund as we continued to harvest returns from closed merger deals and reinvest that capital in new mergers. Merger arbitrage spreads continued to remain at wide levels in July following an expansion of spreads in June with some key catalysts on larger merger deals resulting in a […]

Highlights The broad-based rally provided an opportunity to sell liquid high-yield positions at prices that we viewed as fully valued. There were several positive developments within our Event Driven book including Black Knight Inc. (NYSE: BKI), Arconic Corp. (NYSE: ARNC), and PDC Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCE) We are watching commercial real estate where defaults mount […]

Highlights: Positive contributors included First Majestic Silver Corp., which rallied from multi-year lows, and our holdings of Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. notes, which attracted bids due to their attractive double-digit yield to a 2025 put date. Positive performance was offset by several investment grade securities, which were influenced by higher risk-free rates. Line-item credit weakness […]

Highlights June was a good month for the Fund as it harvested returns from several closed merger deals, which we added to at wider spreads in May. The Fund took advantage of recent volatility to bring net exposure to nearly 100%, the highest level this year. The Fund initiated positions in seven new or previously […]

Highlights Within the Fund’s equity holdings, strong positive contributions came from Onex Corp. (TSX: ONEX), ARC Resources Ltd. (TSX: ARX), and Burford Capital Ltd. (NYSE: BUR). Detractors included Brookfield Corporation (TSX: BN), Texas Pacific Land Corporation (NYSE: TPL), as well as Fiera Capital Corp (TSX: FSZ). However, Brookfield and Texas Pacific Land have both contributed […]

Highlights Sylogist Inc (TSX: SYZ) is the largest holding in the Fund and was a top contributor in the quarter. We have been active with the company over the last few months and have successfully negotiated a nomination agreement that allows us to appoint a director to their board. Burford Capital Inc (NYSE: BUR) was […]

Highlights It was the first month of outperformance for small caps relative to large caps since February. Sylogist Inc. (TSX: SYZ) was a top contributor in the quarter. We are focused on reviewing our holdings regarding their ability to service existing debt, in addition to their maturity profile and the risks of refinancing their debt. […]