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Amid the current market turmoil, this is our regular report on hedge fund and alternative asset managers who are bucking the trend.

Non-correlated life settlements

Laureola Advisors is a boutique life settlements asset manager with offices in the BVIs, the US and Canada. They have two funds, which did well in Q1-2020.

"As an asset class, life settlements is completely non-correlated to the financial markets (provided it is done correctly!) so we would always expect that we would perform positively in a sell-off (as indeed we have)," the manager told Opalesque. "Additionally though, and rather morbidly, the effects of Covid 19 can only be good for us as a mortality fund; our focus is on very elderly and highly impaired lives, the two groups most at risk of succumbing to the virus or of being unable to get treatment for existing health issues because the health systems are under so much pressure from those suffering from the virus. We expect to see an extra uplift in performance this year and are already seeing some Covid 19 mortality within our portfolio of policies.

The manager will participate in the second episode of the Corona Fighters webinars, which takes place on May 19th. Details below.

The Laureola Investment fund, a Bermuda fund for non-US investors (AuM $61m) launched in 2013, which is up +1.5% YTD after returning +0.3% in March. "Returns were driven by two small maturities and the purchase of five policies at projected gross yields above 18%, "says a monthly commentary seen by Opalesque. "Over the past three years, the Fund has returned 30.4%, vs. 9.4% for the S&P. The Fund now holds 168 policies, most small face and all with multiple pre-existing conditions."

The Laureola US QP fund, a Delaware fund for US investors (AuM $9m) launched in April 2019, which is up +3% YTD after returning +0.9% in March, and +14% since inception. "Returns were driven by the purchase of seven new policies at attractive prices with projected gross yields between 18% and 25%. The portfolio now holds 49 policies with a total death benefit of $14m. All 49 are small face and all have multiple pre-existing conditions - some combination of cancer, heart disease, lung ailments, kidney problems, or diabetes, often severe."

Both funds are USD denominated though the Bermuda fund has EUR, CHF and GBP hedged share classes.

Award winner

The Pine Tree Market Neutral fund returned +0.7% in March, +1.13% YTD. It is a multi-strategy systematic equities fund, with a mix of long/short and market neutral strategies. It has annualised 4.8% since its inception in March 2014.

"The market neutral strategies were all positive in March, while the long/hort strategies felt the meltdown in the markets," says a manager report seen by Opalesque. "Pine Tree was also awarded another BarclayHedge performance award for January 2020."

Pine Tree Funds' other fund, Dragonfly, returned +4.3% in March, +12.3% YTD. It is a single systematic equities market neutral strategy. It has annualised +13.9% since inception in April 2017, compared to 1% for the BarclayHedge Market Neutral Index.

"Another strong month, which brings Dragonfly comfortably above its 2020 target after only three months. Dragonfly was also awarded further BarclayHedge awards as the top performing market neutral product for January and February 2020."

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Prior issues of The Corona Fighters Report:
Report 1; Report 2; Report 3; Report 4; Report 5; Report 6; Report 7; Report 8; Report 9; Report 10; Report 11; Report 12; and Report 13.

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Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. Opalesque has not verified this information and gives no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Past performance is not indicative of future results. See our Terms & Conditions for more information.

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WEBINARS:

Meet five Managers and learn how and why their strategies delivered positive returns and/or protected capital during the Corona led market meltdown in one hour!

"A well-chosen topic of discussion and a great set of speakers to hear and learn from."
"I enjoyed the webinar and found the introduction to the strategies to be diverse and insightful.
"Very resourceful and insightful."

700 people registered for the CORONA FIGHTERS - Episode 1 webinar.

Don't miss EPISODE 2
Time: Tuesday, May 19th at 10 am EST
Register here: https://www.opalesque.com/webinar/

You will be able to tune in to this webinar from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. The webinar will be recorded - in case you are not able to join, all registered participants will be provided a link to replay the webinar.