May 11, 2020 Dear Investor: Skybridge Multi
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
_ May 11, 2020 Dear Investor: SkyBridge Multi-Adviser Hedge Fund Portfolios LLC - Series G (“Series G” or the “Fund”) generated a +0.70% net return in April. While Series G’s portfolio of underlying funds gained +2.27% for the month, the Fund’s return was adversely impacted by secondary market sales of the Hildene Opportunities Funds. Importantly, these sales, along with prior sales of Series G’s interests in the EJF Debt Opportunities Funds (as of March 31), essentially eliminated Series G’s exposure to bank trust preferred collateralized debt obligations. Capital raised by these sales was re-allocated into new investments with Bridgewater and Oaktree and a follow-on investment with Third Point. These large, well-known managers have built their track records by capitalizing on substantial market dislocations, and we are excited to add them to Series G’s portfolio. Why the Sales The decision to sell Series G’s interests in EJF and Hildene was based on risk management and investment considerations. Because of suspended redemptions at EJF and a fund restructuring at Hildene, investors, including Series G, are presently unable to redeem capital from these two funds. As a consequence, absent action, these two positions would grow in size after Series G satisfies pending redemptions for June 30th. As a reminder, redemptions for June 30th are a manageable 9.3%. While EJF and Hildene were amongst Series G’s top performers over the last three years, they operate in a niche market, bank trust preferred collateralized debt obligations. In more benign market environments, identifying niche opportunities represents part of Series G’s value proposition. However, for the foreseeable future, we expect EJF and Hildene’s portfolios to de-link from broader market trends. Rather than by fundamentals, we expect performance will be driven by fund flows out of this niche sector. As evidence of this, both funds were down in April despite strong performance in other asset classes. The sale of the EJF and Hildene interests facilitated Series G’s investments in Bridgewater, Oaktree, and Third Point. These managers generated attractive returns during previous market dislocations including the 2008 Financial Crisis. The coronavirus pandemic likewise has short and long term ramifications for asset values, and the resulting mispricings, in our opinion, produce opportunities for these managers. Moreover, Bridgewater, Oaktree, and Third Point have a demonstrated ability to de-risk their portfolios dynamically. As we painfully experienced in March, managers in the structured credit sector were, because of illiquid market conditions, unable to protect investors from substantial drawdowns. In our judgement, these allocations should represent a combination of both better offense and better defense. We believe our investors will be better served - in good and bad markets - by greater diversification across different strategies and across different managers. We learned hard lessons in March, and we are taking decisive corrective action. Bridgewater Series G made a $100 million initial investment in Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund firm with $138 billion in assets. Founded by Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer Ray Dalio, Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha Fund has generated attractive uncorrelated returns in wide ranging market environments. The fund has had only four down years since 1991, and its largest annual loss was -7.9% in 2000. Bridgewater runs a fully systematic macro strategy with diversified market exposure to a wide range of asset classes including global equities, bonds, commodities, and currencies. Pure Alpha has been closed to new investors since 2007, and it is expected to close again in the coming months. Given the increased volatility across every global asset class, we believe this is a particularly opportune time to invest with this exceptional macro manager. Oaktree Series G made a $100 million initial investment in Oaktree, a $115 billion asset management firm founded by Howard Marks and Bruce Karsh. The firm is widely considered to be one of the pre-eminent distressed credit managers. Series G invested in the Oaktree Value Opportunities Fund which is the hedge fund companion to the firm’s flagship, multi-year drawdown Distressed Opportunities funds. Oaktree is presently raising a $15 billion distressed fund to capitalize on distressed debt opportunities created by the coronavirus pandemic. The Oaktree Value Opportunities Fund will participate in a subset of the rescue loans sourced by what is expected to be the world’s biggest distressed debt fund. Given the global recession and cyclical and perhaps secular changes to the retail, energy, and hospitality industries, Oaktree believes, and we agree, that it is a target-rich environment for distressed investing. Third Point Series G made an additional $90 million investment in Dan Loeb’s Third Point Ultra Fund (“Ultra”). As a result of this investment, Third Point is now a top ten position for Series G. Ultra, which has broad global event driven multi-strategy mandate, was up 9% in April. Interestingly, Third Point is presently raising $500 million for a Structured Credit Opportunities Fund, and approximately 31% of Ultra’s long book is allocated to credit strategies. As a point of reference, the allocation to credit strategies was less than 10% in February. Outlook Disappointingly though somewhat expectedly, Series G’s portfolio lagged in April. That said, credit market fundamentals improved modestly over the last month as Federal stimulus programs took effect and the American economy began to slowly re-open. We expect bond prices to rise in the coming months, and, in the meanwhile, we anticipate Series G’s portfolio to continue to generate approximately 90 basis points monthly in cash flow. I share your frustration that Series G did not snap back in April. To this end, I frequently remind myself and our team of Warren Buffett’s words: “the stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” SkyBridge is evolving and adapting to better protect and grow our investors’ capital. Suffice to say, the aforementioned portfolio changes reflect a shift in strategy. We continue to believe that there are very attractive opportunities in the credit markets, and Series G will continue to overweight this sector. At the same time, we are also diversifying the portfolio into macro, event-driven, and distressed debt strategies. As 2 Mike Tyson famously said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” To this end, modern portfolio theory represents the best defense against unknown unknowns. Further, during these turbulent times, we believe that large, proven, well-resourced hedge fund managers are best positioned to generate attractive returns while concurrently seeking to protect against losses. We are thrilled to be in business with great investors like Ray Dalio, Howard Marks, and Dan Loeb. Our number one objective is to make up the losses that our investors suffered in March. I am confident and optimistic that we are on our way back. Thank you for your partnership and support during these challenging times. Best, Anthony Scaramucci P.S. A number of investors have inquired as to whether they can rescind redemptions submitted in April. The answer is “yes.” For your convenience, attached to this letter is rescission paperwork. Performance data, including April month-end estimate, are presented in the following pages. 3 Preliminary Performance Estimate April 2020 2020 YTD Series G (net of fees and expenses) +0.70% -23.68% S&P 500 Total Return Index +12.82% -9.29% Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond Index +1.78% +4.98% HFRI Fund of Funds Composite Index (est.) +2.67% -5.96% HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index (Daily) +2.88% -4.17% Event Driven – Credit Sensitive MBS, Event Driven Multi-Strategy, Diversified Structured Credit, and Relative Value – Convertible Arbitrage and Prepay Sensitive MBS have been key contributors to performance. Relative Value – Relative Value Credit was a key detractor. No other strategies meaningfully contributed to or detracted from performance. Preliminary Top 10 Positions (by percentage, based on the preliminary April 2020 estimated fund net asset value) Approximate Position Top 10 Portfolio Positions1 Strategy Group2 Strategy2 Size 400 Capital Credit Opportunities Event Driven Credit Sensitive MBS3,4 9.49% Seer Capital Partners Event Driven Diversified Structured Credit4 8.65% AG Mortgage Value Partners Event Driven Diversified Structured Credit4 8.29% Linden Relative Value Convertible Arbitrage 7.89% Marathon Securitized Credit Event Driven Credit Sensitive MBS3,4 6.51% Axonic Credit Opportunities Event Driven Credit Sensitive MBS3,4 6.49% Canyon Balanced Fund Event Driven Event Driven Multi-Strategy 5.08% Hildene Opportunities Relative Value Relative Value Credit 4.68% Galton Mortgage Strategies Event Driven Credit Sensitive MBS3,4 4.58% Waterfall Eden Event Driven Diversified Structured Credit4 4.13% 1) Top 10 Portfolio Positions of Series G can change at any time; allocation sizes may change, investments may be added or removed at the Adviser’s discretion. The Top 10 Portfolio Positions listed above may not be the Top 10 Positions at the time of investment. 2) Portfolio strategy allocations and strategy classifications are subject to change at any time at the Adviser’s discretion. 3) MBS is defined as Mortgage Backed Securities. 4) As of June 2015, assets previously classified as distressed securities will now be classified