Alpine Select has published the monthly update December 2021.
Klick here to download the monthly report.

Alpine Select hat den Monatsbericht Dezember 2021 publiziert (nur in Englisch).
Klicken Sie hier um den Bericht einzusehen.

Market commentary

A milder perceived Omicron variant brought optimism back onto the market by mid-December. Even harsh remarks by the FED could not stop a rally at the end of 2021, closing the year on a positive note. With the exception of the Chinese Market, major indices were up for the month/year: S&P 500 +4.4%/+27%, NASDAQ +0.7%/+21%, CSI 300 +2.2%/-5% and TOPIX Japan +3.3%/+10%.

We reiterate our view that while the sentiment is somewhat cautious in the face of inflationary trends, real interest rates are likely to remain negative, we thus conclude that there is currently no real alternative to an actively managed equity and digital assets portfolio.

Portfolio commentary

With a brief review of 2021, we are pleased that our investment decisions have resulted in a satisfying performance. Although we will revisit the investment year in detail in our annual report, we would like to highlight two of our investment topics:

• Although the Chinese market generally underperformed by -5% in 2021, our actively managed allocation to the local market gained around +24%(!) overall, which again confirms our firm belief in active asset management.
  
  
• Our call to allocate to digital assets has paid off, achieved a return of around +350% on this asset class and contributed nicely to our overall result.

Portfolio activity

We deployed significant cash in December due to an attractive merger arbitrage: Australian biopharmaceutical company CSL Ltd. made a public tender offer of USD 179.25 per share to VIFOR Pharma. In view of this special situation, we hedged the offer to CHF and took this opportunity. Given that the deal will close in H1-22, we estimate an annualized return of around 11% in CHF with this special trade.

Confident of the exceptional results we have achieved with our regional allocation to China, we have decided to stay proactive and take a new position dedicated to a large and rapidly growing local market: “Chinese Healthcare”. The demographics of an aging population and a higher disposable income should lead to increasing health expenditure and thus to value creation in which we want to participate. As per our management style conviction, we have chosen to invest with an actively managed and locally based investment team at Bin Yuan Capital.

For further information, please contact Claudia Habermacher (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or visit our website www.alpine-select.ch.

About Alpine Select
Alpine Select Ltd is an investment company domiciled in Zug and has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1998. The company offers shareholders the key benefit of investing into a global diversified and CHF hedged alternative investment portfolio. The portfolio exposure is actively being risk adjusted to current market sentiment and outlook. The investment style is value oriented and the investments are selected based on the company’s target return of 6-8% p.a. above CHF risk free rate. Alpine Select maintains an active and constructive dialogue with management and board of directors of its portfolio companies in the best interest of its shareholders. Alpine Select does not charge any management or performance fees.