Cadiz Collective Investments' Assets Under Management Exceeds R4 Billion

Continued strong inflows into the range of Cadiz unit trust funds has pushed the assets under management of Cadiz Collective Investments above the R4 billion mark for the first time.

Paul Hutchinson, Head of Cadiz Collective Investments said; ‘Less than a year ago our assets under management stood at R2 billion. Given the continuing market volatility, we are particularly pleased with and thankful for the strong investor and financial adviser support that has resulted in our reaching this new milestone.’

Hutchinson added that while there was excellent support for the Cadiz Money Market Fund, which is the top performing money market unit trust fund over almost all measurement periods (source: Morningstar), what was more pleasing was the growing support for both the Cadiz Absolute Yield and Equity Ladder Funds.

With South African interest rates having fallen by 5% since December 2008, and the realistic expectation that the returns of money market unit trust funds will fall commensurately, many investors are looking for a higher yielding alternative. The Cadiz Absolute Yield Fund, which is a flexible fixed interest fund, has benefited from this investor requirement and seen its assets double in the past six months to R610 million. This as result of the fund substantially outperforming its rolling three year inflation plus 3% benchmark: CPI+3% returned 11.07% per annum for the three years ended 30 September 2009, whereas the Cadiz Absolute Yield Fund returned 13.68% per annum (source: Morningstar).

Similarly, in the difficult investment environment of the past 18 months, the Cadiz Equity Ladder Fund has appealed to retail and multi-manager investors who wish to remain invested in the equity market but who require an element of downside protection. Specifically the fund aims to achieve equity returns with substantially less risk, while targeting capital preservation over the medium term. This has been achieved with the fund having outperformed all general equity, value and growth funds for the one, two and three years to 30 September 2009 and having protected investors from more than half the market’s fall since 22 May 2008. As a result, the fund has grown in size to almost R1.2 billion.

While not benefiting to the same degree in terms of inflows, the performance of the other three Cadiz unit trust funds has been equally attractive:

· The Cadiz Managed Flexible Fund is the top performing prudential variable equity fund over one year to 30 September 2009 with a return of 16.81% (source: Morningstar). The fund is ideally suited to those investors who would prefer to rely on Cadiz Asset Management’s specialist skills in deciding on the appropriate asset allocation mix. Current market conditions have definitely seen the return of the balanced investment mandate

· The Cadiz Inflation Plus Fund returned 11.95% per annum for the three years ended 30 September 2009 (source: Morningstar), which is just shy of its inflation plus 5% benchmark return of 13.09% per annum over the same period

· The relative outperformance of the Cadiz Mastermind Fund, a deep value equity fund, since the market correction in March 2009 has also been remarkable

Evan Jones, Managing Director of Cadiz’s broader retail investment division, Cadiz Wealth, concluded that there is growing appreciation for the unique product development and asset management skills that reside at Cadiz. ‘We believe that our prudent investment approach has rewarded our clients in the current volatile economic conditions, as we have largely been able to maintain and grow our clients’ wealth.’