Why Athena – Malta

Why Athena?

Specialist expertise, total conviction

The Athena Global Cautious Fund is managed by Apollo Multi Asset Management LLP, a company domiciled in the UK, and authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Partners at Apollo Multi Asset Management LLP have considerable combined experience in the asset management business, particularly in the sphere of pure multi-asset investing. Having evolved naturally from traditional ‘single-asset-class’ investing we believe multi-asset management really is the future. Offering investors something new and different, the multi-asset approach is a truly viable alternative for investors who seek capital growth potential.

Athena’s portfolio construction & management

Comprises a four-stage process:

Asset Class Blending

The eight asset classes we invest in all have different degrees of correlation. Our primary aim is to maintain the optimal balance between each asset class so that volatility and risk are limited and the potential returns are maximised

Investment Cycle Tilting

This is the process of increasing or decreasing the proportion of capital invested in each asset class as conditions change. Our proprietary tools constantly test various investment scenarios, examining the probable affects of movements in one or more asset classes on others, and the affect those movements would have on the fund’s portfolio as a whole. Examples of tilting would be placing greater emphasis on equities as economies emerge from recession or shifting the focus to bonds when moving toward, or in, recession.

Fund Selection

Funds are chosen using a blend of science, experience and talent. We also have access to specific fund research. Through a combination of quantitative research techniques and face to face interviews with fund managers we select funds which meet our four key criteria:

Is the fund’s asset allocation correct?
Are the funds readily available for investment and disposable?
Is the performance vs risk profile in line with our expectations?
Do the fund managers have a proven track record?

Implementation

As market timing can affect returns, we use a range of indicators to help predict where changes may occur. By analysing volatility and volume within the derivatives markets, monitoring currencies and tracking hedge fund and other fund management activities, we can spot early signs of stock and market movements. That information helps us to determine the optimal time to buy or sell assets for the funds.

Investment approach

Greater diversification, less volatility, more potential

We believe that blending eight asset classes in one fund provides investors with three distinct benefits:

A highly diversified investment that reduces the risk to capital
Any sharp ups and downs are smoothed out
The potential for outperformance within the sector or group

Apollo’s managers look worldwide for opportunities. Once identified, evaluated and approved, they then choose the most efficient method for tapping into that opportunity. Options might include investing directly in the security itself, indirectly via another fund manager, or utilising structured products and index trackers for example. Ultimately the tools and devices used are academic because what really counts are the results achieved on behalf of our investors.The Athena Global Cautious fund offers an all-encompassing investment solution.

Less volatile investments
More scope
Greater diversification
Access to global Cautious
Active fund management
Dedicated fund managers
Asset Classes

Our funds invest in eight asset classes

Bonds

A bond is a debt investment in which an investor loans money to an entity which borrows the funds for a defined period of time at a variable or fixed interest rate. Bonds are used by companies , states and sovereign governments to raise money and finance a variety of projects and activities. Owners of bonds are debtholders, or creditors, of the issuer.

Commodities

A commodity is a basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other commodities of the same type; commodities are most often used as inputs in the production of other goods or services. The quality of a given commodity may differ slightly, but it is essentially uniform across producers. When they are traded on an exchange, commodities must also meet specified minimum standards, also known as a basis grade.

Hedge funds

Hedge funds are alternative investments using pooled funds that employ numerous different strategies to earn active return, or alpha, for their investors.

Equities

The market in which shares are issued and traded, through exchanges. Also known as the stock market, it gives companies access to capital and investors participation in the ownership of a company with the potential to realize gains based on its future performance.

Managed Cash

A cash deposit fund where it’s purpose is to provide investors with a safe place to invest easily accessible, cash-equivalent assets.

Currency funds

A cash deposit account in a different currency to that which the fund is denominated in.

Private Equity

Private equity is capital that is not noted on a public exchange. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies, or that engage in buyouts of public companies, resulting in the delisting of public equity. Institutional and retail investors provide the capital for private equity, and the capital can be utilized to fund new technology, make acquisitions, expand working capital, and to bolster and solidify a balance sheet.

Property

Investment property is real estate property that has been purchased with the intention of earning a return on the investment, either through rental income, the future resale of the property or both. An investment property can be a long-term endeavor or an intended short-term investment such as in the case of flipping, where real estate is bought, remodeled or renovated, and sold at a profit. The fund will only invest into property via liquid instruments, such as shares and will not hold physical property directly.

Smooth out your investments

Athena Asset Classes

Every asset class has its attractions, how each asset class performs in investment terms is influenced to a greater or lesser degree by prevailing economic and market conditions along with other circumstances and events. While some asset classes move up or down closely together, others remain unmoved or do exactly the opposite. So that as the fortunes of one asset class begin to wane, one or more of the other asset classes is usually in the ascendant and vice versa. The linkage – or lack of it – between each asset class is referred to as ‘correlation’; closely correlated asset classes usually move together in the same direction, while asset classes that are less correlated, don’t.

By combing a range of asset classes in one fund, the sharp ups and downs of each asset class can be ‘smoothed out’ by the other asset classes and as a consequence, the fund’s overall investment performance becomes steadier and smoother.

As well as reducing volatility, modern portfolio theory also shows that higher returns can be achieved (on a comparable risk basis with other funds) by bundling non-correlated investments together in one fund. In other words, the smoothing effect of multi asset investing does not compromise a fund’s ultimate performance potential.

Important criteria for investors

Liquidity

Liquidity is, ever increasingly, becoming an important criteria for investors. Since the global financial crisis in 2007/2008 numerous assets that had previously been thought to have been liquid became anything but and funds with non- liquid assets such as bricks and mortar property, Life settlements, traded endowment plans, legal financing funds and certain private equity funds have been seen to have ‘locked’ or ‘gated’ up having been suspended. Naturally, this is of concern to investors. It is with this in mind that the Athena Global Cautious and Opportunities Funds have been designed. The fund prices and deals daily and all of the underlying assets are liquid and daily dealing and thus enables the Funds to be traded daily ensuring that any redemptions can be met as promptly as possible.