Lazard World Trust Fund reports that, for the year ended March 31st 2016, the fund’s Net Asset Value per share at the year-end was US$ 4.17 representing a total return of minus 8.04% since the prior year end. The fund’s benchmark, the MSCI All Country World Index, declined 4.3% over the same period while the fund’s reference benchmark, the MSCI All Country World Index ex-U.S. declined 9.2%.
Top 5 Contributors and Detractors for the year ended March 31st, 2016
Company Average Total Contribution
Portfolio Return to Return (%)
Weight (%)
Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund 2.2 14.4 0.9
JPMorgan European Smaller Companies 5.5 15.8 0.7
Eurazeo SA 5.5 5.1 0.5
Naspers Ltd. 0.3 5.0 0.3
Tetragon Financial Group 0.2 12.1 0.1
Tetragon Financial was a new position added to the portfolio toward the end of the financial year, which trades on a very deep discount to its NAV, as the price fell back following a US$ 60 million tender offer late in 2015. Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund was added amid the China A-share market sell-off during the summer of 2015, when the discount widened to over 36%. The Chinese market partly recovered later in the year and the company paid two significant distributions, totaling nearly 50% of NAV. JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust had a strong year as European small cap stocks performed well. Eurazeo was quite active in asset sales, with the successful public listings of Europcar and Elis, two of their largest investments. Naspers is a new investment in “New China”, at a discount of over 20%. Its largest holding of Tencent is a dominant social media, e-commerce and game platform company.
Top 5 Detractors from Returns (NAV)
Average Total Contribution
Company Portfolio Weight Return to Return
(%) (%) (%)
BB Biotech AG 6.4 -17.5 -1.7
First Pacific Co. Ltd. 4.4 -22.5 -1.1
International Biotechnology 3.6 -26.2 -1.2
China Merchants China Direct 3.6 -17.2 -0.6
Macau Property Opportunities Fund 1.6 -44.2 -0.9
BB Biotech AG and International Biotech Trust detracted from results over the period after being key contributors in
prior years. The biotechnology sector remains attractive. First Pacific fell significantly over the first half of the period,
though the shares, rallied during the first quarter of 2016. The underlying businesses performed well, but the NAV
outperformed the shares resulting in a wider discount. Macau Property Opportunities Fund traded at a discount of
over 50%, over concerns about a slowdown and an anti-corruption crackdown in China. China Merchants China Direct
Investments saw its discount widening to 66%, making it one of our most deeply discounted investments.
WTR : Lazard World Trust gets mixed results from China