#LPAIF05/2014
Fixed Income Fund with EM Strategy
Alternative Investment Fund
(AIF) with Limited Number of
Persons
Licensed by the CySEC
Establishment in April
2017
Professional Investors
Only
International team
International Team
Local Expertise RUSSIA & CIS, MENA, SSA, LATAM
Investment Strategy Launched April 2017
Minority Female Owned and Managed
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
▪ The Fund is part of an investment group that includesa custody, asset management and intermediationbusiness that is woman owned, set up andmanaged;
▪ The front desk team has a female to male ratio of2:1;
▪ Meritkapital team comprised of individuals across 10nationalities within the EM space that give the fundthat extra niche;
▪ The investment group was able to grow a unique,globally benchmarked product offering in a smallcapital markets industry such as that of Cyprus:
▪ The relationships of the group include amongstthe biggest buy side funds in Russia andamongst top 10 globally ranked funds byAUM;
▪ Our strong and diverse regional relationshipsforms the niche of our business across allbusiness lines;
▪ A minority run business that drives achievements ofan innovative nature:
▪ Underwrote the first, locally denominatedKazakh bond that was also settle-able ininternational exchanges (the issuer was asubsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund ofKazakhstan);
▪ During the banking capital controls of Cyprus inthe 2013 local financial crisis, the firm was thefirst player to bring liquidity back to the marketby buying out frozen deposits for anexchange of deposits abroad.
Minority
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Fund Type: Open-end fund
Asset Class: Fixed Income
Morningstar Category: Global Emerging Markets, New Issues,
Distressed Debt
Inception: 01/09/2016
Investment Strategy: 01/04/2017
Fund Base Currency: USD
Share Class Currency: USD
Benchmark: JP Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index
Liquidity: Monthly
Domicile: Cyprus
ISIN: CYF000000200
Bloomberg Ticker: MERFXPT CY
Settlement platform: CLEARSTREAM
Specifics
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Strategy
New Issuance Speculation
StrategyLocal Expertise
Event Driven
Opportunities
Solid issuers Diversification
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Performance
Total Fund Assets $37,470,137
Yield Since Inception +0.48%
Modified Duration 1.65 years
Yield to Worst 4.62%
Credit Rating BB
Cash 10.56%
Repo Instruments 0.19%
Data as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
o Emerging markets rallied
o Hunger for yield
o Weakening dollar
o Recovering commodity prices
Performance Since Inception
o US Fed quantitative tightening →
UST 10 year above 3%
o EM spreads widening
o Geo-political tensions:
US relations with China, Turkey,
Russia sanctions
o Argentina bailout, elections in Brazil, Mexico
o Huge Emerging Market ETF outflows
o Conservative strategy to reduce
modified duration and exposure
to high beta credit
2018
o Fed pausing the interest rate hike
o Improvement in geopolitics
o Return of Emerging Market
ETF inflows
o Improved market sentiment post tough end to 2018
2019
2017
Year MFIF Index*
2017 2Q 0.29% 2.21%
3Q 2.02% 2.38%
4Q 1.45% 0.54%
Year (9 month) 3.80% 5.21%
2018 1Q -1.40% -1.78%
2Q -3.86% -3.51%
3Q 1.41% 1.87%
4Q -0.45% -1.19%
Year -4.29% -4.61%
2019 1Q (1 month) 1.14% 4.42%
*JPMorgan Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI)
Data as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
*The Fund remained dormant between Sep 2016 and Mar 2017. The Performance is presented from the date the investmentstrategy was implemented.
Fund performance displayed net of fees
Performance Since InceptionData as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Country Breakdown
RU TRNG ZACY AEBH KEOM RA
Data as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
29,13%
14,61%
10,65%
4,94%4,08% 4,03% 3,96%
2,72% 2,67% 2,64%
9,82%
Asset Allocation History by RegionData as of31 Jan 2019
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
A P R 1 7 J U N 1 7 A U G 1 7 O C T 1 7 D E C 1 7 F E B 1 8 A P R 1 8 J U N 1 8 A U G 1 8 O C T 1 8 D E C 1 8
Europe Russia/CIS MENA SSA Asia LATAM Other
Current Region Breakdown
32,6% 26,9% 25,5% 8.0% 5.5% 1.5%
Fund Information Sector Breakdown
Currency Breakdown
Data as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Fund Information
Rating Breakdown
Duration Breakdown
Data as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Top 10 Holdings
DescriptionBloomberg
Ticker% of Total Fund
Data as of31 Jan 2019
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
*Performance Fee: On each Valuation Day in a Performance Period, a Performance Fee is accrued for theaccount of the Manager in an amount equal to 15% of the increase in the Net Asset Value per Sharedetermined as at such Valuation Day (before deduction of any accrued Performance Fees for such period) inexcess of an annual Hurdle Rate of 3% compounded annually.
The Manager is entitled to an annual payment of Performance Fees, calculated as of the end of Performanceperiod or at other times upon the redemption of Shares or dissolution of the Fund. Performance Fees paidto the Manager are calculated on the basis of unaudited data, are not refundable to the Fund, but may besubject to audit adjustments.
Performance Fee* 15% per annum
Hurdle 3% per annum
Management Fee 0.75% per annum
Admin Fee US$ 30,000 flat
Director Fee US$ 2,500 flat
Fee Structure
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
PERSELLA IOANNIDES has an MBA and an MS in Financial Engineeringfrom Columbia University and a BS in Mathematics and Statistics fromBristol University. She spent three years as a risk manager for MorganStanley’s institutional equity derivatives desk in New York. In 2007, Persellaset up Meritkapital, an FCA and CySEC licensed investment firm with aninitial focus on asset management and investment advice. Since, she hasprogressively grown the firm’s product offerings to include proprietarytrading, brokerage, custody and the underwriting business and has workedtowards building the firm’s global presence. Persella has developed thefirm’s niche in the Eurobond fixed income space, particularly in emergingmarkets including Russia and the CIS. Her strong relationships with largebuy side funds are testament to the positioning of Meritkapital in its field ofexpertise.
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
LADI OLUWO began his career as a commodities trader with institutionsboth in London, most recently with Commodities Spectrum Ltd, and inNigeria, at Knights Capital Ltd, where he built a local buy side network. In2014, he joined Renaissance Capital Limited in London to set up the Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) Trading operation of the Fixed Income Desk. He wasresponsible for identifying fixed income trading opportunities from theregions and advising institutional clients accordingly. Subsequently, hejoined MeritKapital Ltd to develop a similar effort. He holds a degree inMathematics and Statistics with Finance from Queen Mary University ofLondon and the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).
Team Members
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Team Members
COMPLIANCE OFFICER
NOMSA CHIZHOWEZHA holds a Master’s Degree from the BPP Universityin London with a focus on Financial Regulations. Her previous workexperience includes being a County Court Advocate and she has beencalled to the Bar of England and Wales in October 2017. Since joiningMeritKapital she has taken lead in implementing compliance projects suchas GDPR, FATCA regime and MiFID II. Miss Chizhowezha has proven to beoutstanding in both practical and theoretical application of the law and hasbeen appointed to be the compliance officer for MeritKapital Ltd. sincepassing the CySEC Advanced examination.
INVESTOR RELATIONS
TATIANA KOZLOVA joined MeritKapital in 2013. Prior, she spent two yearsas a salesperson for Anixter, a Fortune 500 company focused on telecom &security. Tatiana has been instrumental in building the firm’s sales desk,particularly in Russia and the CIS. In 2015, she led MeritKapital’s involvementas co-underwriter on a Kazakh Eurobond issue of a subsidiary of“KazTransGas.”; the deal was well publicized as it was the first issue to bedenominated in Kazakh tenge and be settle-able in Euroclear. Tatiana has anundergraduate degree in Financial Management from Belgorod University ofCooperation, Economics and Law in Russia and holds the CySEC MOFexams, where she ranked in the top 10th percentile.
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
DIRECTOR
HANNES BOECK began his career at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, NewYork, where he worked on the structuring of products and global activities offinancial institutions and the tax and accounting treatment of derivatives. In ‘96he joined Credit Suisse, London where he rose up the ranks to reach MD leveland to lead the global Product Development unit which structured andmarketed tax, regulatory and accounting motivated transactions covering allasset classes and clients. In 2004, he left Credit Suisse to co-set up and leadKupperstein, Vienna, an advisory business on balance sheet restructurings offinancials institutions and other sizeable entities. Hannes holds graduate degreesin Economics and Computer Science and also in Law from the University ofVienna. He also holds an LLM in Taxation from NYU School of Law, New Yorkwhich he attended as a Fullbright scholar.
Team Members
DIRECTOR
EVANGELIA GEORGIOU is an Associate Director of DI Ross. During her 15 yearsin the accounting profession she has amassed a great deal of exposure to allaspects of complex accounting matters as well as an up-to-date knowledge ofthe IFRS and their application. Evangelia specializes in dealing with largeinternational conglomerates and primarily deals with complex consolidation andmerger engagements that require conversion of local GAAP into IFRS, multi-currency reporting and translations, the purchase and sale of Treasury Sharesand changes to Group structures. She joined our group in 2006 having been inthe audit and accounting profession since 2001. She is a Fellow CharteredCertified Accountant.
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Regulatory Highlights
▪ Merit Fixed Income Fund is registered as an open-endedAlternative Investments Fund with limited number ofpersons;
▪ The legal basis for regulating the Fund is the AlternativeInvestment Funds Law 124(I)/2018;
▪ Falling under the EU regulation and supervision of theCyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
▪ Marketed only to Professional or Well-Informed investors;
▪ Fully in line with latest EU Directives on assetmanagement, transparency and investor protection.
▪ No withholdings tax on dividends
▪ No taxation on redemption on unites
▪ No deemed distribution restrictions or taxes
Tax Incentives for Foreign Investors
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Key Roles
DIRECTORS: Hannes Boeck, Evangelia Georgiou
MANAGER: MeritKapital Limited, Cyprus
ADMINISTRATOR: Meritservus Secretaries Ltd, Cyprus
CUSTODIAN: Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Austria
AUDITOR: Deloitte, Cyprus
LEGAL COUNSEL: Antis Triantafyllides & Sons LLC, Cyprus
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
How To Invest
▪ Due Diligence Procedure
▪ Subscription Agreement
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Disclaimer
▪ Merit Fixed Income Fund Limited (the "Fund"), isreserved for professional and well-informed investorsas defined by the Alternative Investment Funds Lawn.131(I) of 2014 (the "Law") who, on the basis of theOffering Memorandum (the "Offering Memorandum")and the subscription agreement, should make theirown assessment of the conditions of theirparticipation in the Fund. It is the responsibility ofparticipating investors, to determine whether thefund described in the Offering Memorandum issuitable to their expectations of performance andrisk.
▪ The Fund operates as an Alternative Investment Fundwith Limited Number of Persons according to theLaw, regulated by the Cyprus Securities andExchange Commission, license #LPAIF05/2014, in thelegal form of a variable capital investment company.Prospective investors are not to construe thecontents of the Offering Memorandum or anycommunication relating to this offering asinvestment, legal or tax advice. Each investor should,however, consult his own legal counsel, accountantand other professional adviser as to legal, tax andrelated matters concerning an investment in theFund.
▪ The Offering Memorandum, the Memorandum &Articles of Association as well as the latest monthlyreport are available from the registered office of theManager and from the Fund’s administrator. Aninvestment in the Fund involves financial risk andprospective investors are advised to read theOffering Memorandum carefully in its entirety.
▪ With respect to any quotation of expected returnsthroughout this Presentation or the OfferingMemorandum, it must be noted that these aregenerated from part research and cannot beguaranteed. The value of an investment in theFund may fluctuate. Forward looking statementsby nature comprise risks and uncertainty since theyare related to events and circumstances that mayor may not occur or materialise in the future. Dueto various risks and uncertainties, actual events orresults, the actual performance of the Fund maydiffer materially from those reflected orcontemplated in such forward looking statements.
▪ There can be no assurance that the Fund;investment objectives will be achieved andinvestment results may be achieved over time.Investment in the Fund is not intended on acomplete investment program for any investor.Prospective investors should carefully consider if aninvestment in shares in the Fund is suitable forthem in light of their circumstances and theirresources.
▪ No application has been made to list the shares ofthe Fund on any stock exchange.
▪ Important: shares in the fund are offered solely onthe basis of the information and representationscontained in the Offering Memorandum and thedocuments specified therein, which are available forinspection at the Fund’s registered office and noother information or representation relating theretois authorised.
CySEC #LPAIF05/2014
Contact Us
MeritFixed Income Fund
Eftapaton Court,256 Makarios AvenueMail: P.O.Box 53180 Limassol CY-3301 Cyprus
+357 2585 7700
www.meritfixed.com | #meritfixed
Thank YouFor Your Attention