The Mauritius domiciled Caldora Offshore Balanced Fund, which is managed by Caldora Asset Management, was launched in February last year.
In a letter dated 27 July from one of the company’s directors, Peter Simmons, Caldora said “due to the illiquid nature of the securities” within the fund, “the investment manager has been unable to meet all redemption requests and the board has therefore resolved to suspend the cell for a further 30 day period”.
Simmons added that “every possible thing is being done to prevent losses to investors and waive the cell’s suspensions as soon as possible”.
The fund has lost money since it was launched on 3 February last year. According to data from FE, it has fallen by 32.71% in the period from launch to 5 August 2013 – this compares very unfavourably with a 15.26% return for the International Equity sector in which it sits.
An investor who put £1000 into the fund on day one would now have around £670 left of their investment.
Trustnet Offshore data gives a breakdown of the fund’s asset allocation. As at 31 July, the fund was invested 70% in international equities, 9.8% North American equities, 7% Asian Pacific equities, 6% in European equities, 3.7% in money markets and 1.8% in UK equities.
The fact the fund appears to be entirely invested in equities seems to jar with Simmon’s explanation that the fund is currently unable to meet its redemption requests due to the “illiquid nature of the securities”.
Coincidentally, in February last year, a Thailand based journalist called Andrew Drummond wrote a piece claiming that a company called Caldora Asset Management, led by directors Peter Simmons and Neal Davies, was running an investment scam.
International Adviser has not currently seen any hard evidence which suggests this is an investment scam.
