Allan Gray Optimal Fund

Positive long-term returns unrelated to stock market returns

The Optimal Fund’s goal is to deliver long-term positive returns, better than the money market, regardless of stock market conditions. The unit trust’s performance is measured against the daily interest rate supplied by FirstRand Bank Limited.

The Optimal Fund is suitable for you if:

  • You want returns that are unrelated to returns from shares or bonds
  • You are ideally investing for at least three years

Performance after fees with all distributions reinvested
as at  31 March 2024 (In rands)

Benchmark: The daily interest rate as supplied by FirstRand Bank Limited.

Annualised Returns

This is a way of reporting the return earned over a period as a percentage per year. Although the figure stated implies that the same percentage return was delivered every year, the actual return in each year may have been more or less than the reported figure, depending on the unit trust’s volatility. Annualised performance reporting simplifies comparison across different time periods and across different types of investments.

Risk measures

as at  31 March 2024

 
Maximum drawdown (%)
Highest annual return (%)
Lowest annual return (%)
Fund
-10.2
18.1
-8.2
Benchmark
n/a
11.9
2.5

Investment strategy

To achieve the Optimal Fund’s goal, we invest in shares that our thorough research process indicates are undervalued and we seek to reduce stock market risk via a process called ‘hedging’. This means that we sell exchange-traded equity index derivatives against the shares in the unit trust. This enables us to deliver steady returns under different market conditions by earning a return either from our share selection, or from the derivative contracts. The unit trust's return therefore depends on the performance of the selected shares relative to the stock market index, as well as on the level of short-term interest rates. The choice of shares in the Optimal Fund may be different to other Allan Gray unit trusts. The Optimal Fund's maximum net equity exposure is 20%.

Asset allocation

as at  31 March 2024

Month - End Net Equity Exposure

(Max 20%)

What are the costs?

All the Optimal Fund’s expenses, including the investment management fee, are deducted before performance figures are calculated. There are no separate or additional costs. The total investment charge is broken down below:

1.00%

Investment management fee1

View fee breakdown
1.00%

Benchmark performance4

View summary
+
0.00%

Out- or underperformance5

+
0.03%

Other expenses2

+
0.15%

VAT

=
1.18%

Total expense ratio (TER)3

+
0.13%

Transaction costs

=
1.31%

Total investment charge

1 Investment management fees are charged for the investment manager’s investment research and decision-making. 

2 This includes audit fees, taxes and other administration costs.

3 This is a measure of the actual costs that have been deducted from the unit trust over the past three years to 31 March 2024 (annualised).

4 The fee charged for benchmark performance. 

5 The portion of the investment management fee that is charged for performance above or below the benchmark performance. For more information about our annual investment management fees, refer to these frequently asked questions.

The investment management fee depends on performance

The fee we charge depends on how well the Optimal Fund performs against its benchmark.

Min: 1%   -   Max: uncapped excluding VAT

  • 1% is charged when the unit trust performance is the same as its benchmark’s performance (measured daily).
  • If the Optimal Fund underperforms we will continue to charge 1% until the  underperformance has been fully recovered.
  • Once the unit trust's underperformance has been fully recovered, for each additional percentage outperformance, we add 0.2% to the fee.
  • For more information about our annual investment management fees, refer to these frequently asked questions.

Note: There may be slight discrepancies in the totals due to rounding.

Important information for investors

Collective Investment Schemes in Securities (unit trusts) are generally medium- to long-term investments. The value of units may go down as well as up and past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The Management Company does not provide any guarantee regarding the capital or the performance of its unit trusts. Unit trusts may be closed to new investments at any time in order for them to be managed according to their mandates. Unit trusts are traded at ruling prices and can engage in borrowing and scrip lending.

Performance figures are provided by Allan Gray and are for lump sum investments with income distributions reinvested. Actual investor performance may differ as a result of the investment date, the date of reinvestment and dividend withholding tax. Movements in exchange rates may also be the cause of the value of underlying international investments going up or down. Unit trust prices are calculated on a net asset value basis, which is the total market value of all assets in the unit trust including any income accruals and less any permissible deductions from the unit trust, divided by the number of units in issue. Forward pricing is used and fund valuations take place at approximately 16:00 each business day. Purchase and redemption requests must be received by 14:00 each business day to receive that day’s price. Unit trust prices are available daily on our prices page. Permissible deductions may include management fees, brokerage, Securities Transfer Tax (STT), auditor’s fees, bank charges and trustee fees. A schedule of fees, charges and maximum commissions is available on request from the Management Company. For more information about our annual management fees, refer to these frequently asked questions.

The annual management fees charged by both Allan Gray and Orbis (if applicable) are included in the Total investment charge. The total expense ratio (TER) is the annualised percentage of the Fund’s average assets under management that has been used to pay the Fund’s actual expenses over the past three years. The TER includes the annual management fees that have been charged (both the fee at benchmark and any performance component charged), VAT and other expenses like audit and trustee fees. Transaction costs (including brokerage, Securities Transfer Tax [STT], STRATE and Investor Protection Levy and VAT thereon) are shown separately. Transaction costs are a necessary cost in administering the financial product and impacts financial product returns. They should not be considered in isolation as returns may be impacted by many other factors over time including market returns, the type of financial product, the investment decisions of the investment manager and the TER. Since Fund returns are quoted after the deduction of these expenses, the TER and transaction costs should not be deducted again from published returns. As unit trust expenses vary, the current TER cannot be used as an indication of future TERs. A higher TER does not necessarily imply a poor return, nor does a low TER imply a good return. Instead, when investing, the investment objective of the Fund should be aligned with the investor’s objective and compared against the performance of the Fund. The TER and other funds’ TERs should then be used to evaluate whether the Fund performance offers value for money. The sum of the TER and transaction costs is shown as the total investment charge.

You can obtain additional information about your proposed investment from Allan Gray free of charge. Simply email info@allangray.co.za or call our Client Service Centre on 0860 000 654.

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