Founded in 2014 by Eric Bendahan, ELEVA Capital is an independent management company based in Paris and London. Although on a human scale, with 44 employees, including 15 in the management team, ELEVA Capital manages no less than 8.5 billion euros in assets as of September 30, 2022. The company has also entered into a long-term partnership with UNICEF, to which it redistributes nearly 10% of its profits via the ELEVA foundation.
ELEVA Absolute Return Europe is a European absolute return fund which aims to generate a positive absolute return over the medium term through capital appreciation by investing primarily in equities and equity-related securities of companies listed in Europe in both long and short positions. short position. The management team combines a bottom-up approach and a macroeconomic vision aimed at strengthening sector positioning. The net exposure to equity risk is between -10% and 50%. The manager follows a disciplined and repeatable approach in order to generate alpha over time, with diversification ensured by approximately 60 long positions and 60 short positions.
ELEVA Capital’s management team applies a three-step investment process for long positions. The investment universe includes all companies having their registered office in Europe, ie a number of approximately 12,700 companies. The first step consists in filtering these companies according to their level of liquidity, their size (capitalization greater than €5 billion), and the existence of an ESG score. This 1e filter is used to define the initial investment universe made up of 560 companies. During the second stage, the management team excludes from the initial investment universe companies with an ESG rating of less than 40/100. A fundamental analysis of each company is applied in the third step. The fund focuses on four particular types of companies: family businesses or businesses managed with an asset-based approach; companies present in mature sectors with a differentiating or innovative business model; companies where there is a disjunction between credit and the stock market’s perception of fundamentals; companies going through a process of significant change, restructuring, regrouping, new management, etc.
As of September 30, 2022, the fund posted a remarkable performance with a drop of only 5.03%* against a European market at nearly -23%**. Thus, even if it has been slightly negative since the start of the year, it has largely outperformed the European equity market in which it invests. Its ability to have a net investment of between -10% and +50% therefore enables it to be relatively well decorrelated from the markets and to free itself from major trends. It is thus particularly effective in bearish periods, without neglecting its performance in uptrends since it gained 7.8%* in 2020 and posted an increase of 5.4%* in 2021. Moreover, over 3 years it has accumulated, despite the decline this year a performance of 11.3%*.
We appreciate this fund, in addition to other absolute return funds or international flexible funds to form the core of an allocation. The fund is interesting because, thanks to controlled volatility, it can be adapted to the vast majority of investor profiles, while providing the decorrelation sought in turbulent times. We also use it as part of a more “tactical” approach: its ability to invest both up and down allows it to take advantage of market anomalies and the resulting increased volatility, for more than a year.
Disclaimer:
Article written on 14/10/2022 by Astoria Finance.
Data as of 09/30/2022.
* ELEVA Absolute Return Europe A2 – LU1920211973
** STOXX Europe 600 NR Index
This document is distributed for information purposes only and cannot be considered as a recommendation or investment advice. The sources used are believed to be reliable, however Eleva Capital declines all responsibility for any omissions, errors or inaccuracies. Eleva Capital accepts no liability for any direct or indirect losses caused by the use of the information provided in this document. The information presented in this document is simplified. Before any subscription, please refer to the KIID and the prospectus of the UCI concerned available on our website (www.elevacapital.com). Figures quoted relate to past years and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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