The Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund (ALPHX) Celebrates 3 Year Anniversary & Initial Morningstar Rating(TM)
October 24 2005 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund's Success Leads to Plans for a New
Beta Hedged Strategies Fund WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Oct. 24
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alternative Investment Partners, LLC
(AIP) today announced a significant milestone for their Alpha
Hedged Strategies Fund (Ticker: ALPHX), as it reached its 3 Year
Anniversary. The Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund,
http://www.aipfunds.com/, is an innovative open-end mutual fund
designed to minimize equity market exposure and volatility by
employing a variety of absolute return strategies. The Fund
represents the next generation of product for hedged alternative
strategies investing, and is open to all investors. Since inception
on September 23, 2002 through September 30, 2005, we feel we have
succeeded in providing attractive risk-adjusted returns, as
evidenced by our 6.81% annualized return, while maintaining a low
beta of +.04 (vs. 1.00 for the S&P 500), and an annualized
standard deviation of just 4.21% (vs. 15.03% for the S&P 500).
The Fund's total return for the 12 months ended 9/30/05 was 10.01%.
Performance data quoted represents past performance and does not
guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value
of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when
redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Fund
performance current to the most recent month-end may be lower or
higher than the performance quoted and may be obtained by calling
1-877-Low-Beta. The fund imposes a 2.00% redemption fee for shares
redeemed less than 90 calendar days after they are purchased. "The
three year mark is a significant milestone, and we are pleased to
announce that Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund received a 3-Star
Overall Morningstar Rating(TM)* among 252 Conservative Allocation
funds for the period ending 9/30/05," noted Lee Schultheis, Chief
Investment Strategist and Co- Founder of AIP and the Alpha Hedged
Strategies Fund. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is
derived from a weighted average of the risk-adjusted return figures
associated with its three-year Morningstar Rating metrics. "At the
three year mark, Morningstar covers fund data in a more in-depth
manner, and funds also begin to show up in more periodicals in
various fund rankings and ratings. As Alpha Hedged Strategies is in
Morningstar's Conservative Allocation Category,** many potential
investors will be interested in our lower level of risk statistics
such as beta and standard deviation, which Morningstar tracks on
Morningstar.com for a rolling three year period." "Funds that focus
on just one strategy, or on just technical model driven strategies,
miss the point in our view," commented Schultheis. "One of the key
attributes of the hedge fund world is its adaptability. The
strategies and styles that work the best in today's environment,
may not work as well, or need a little 'tweaking' under different
fundamental market conditions. For instance, if volatility is
missing from the markets, relying solely on strategies that need
volatility can be fool hardy. Having experienced hedge fund
managers, that have seen trends come and go, provides a greater
ability to change with the times." "In reflecting back on the last
three years, perhaps the biggest surprise is that there have not
been more imitators in the mutual fund space, seeking to follow on
the heels of our success," added Schultheis. "One of the keys to
Alpha Hedged Strategies is combining the active management skills
of experienced hedge fund managers in a fully open-end mutual fund.
Most of the alternative products developed in the mutual fund space
over the past three years have either fallen short of the fully
open-end fund format, have used a single strategy approach, or have
relied on fixed indices or technical models." The success of the
Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund, which recently passed the $135
Million mark, has led AIP to begin developing a Beta Hedged
Strategies Fund. "The financial advisor community has really warmed
up to the concept of a multi-strategy product like ours," said
Schultheis. "Now they want more choices, and we are developing Beta
Hedged Strategies Fund, to meet the demand for an alternative
risk/reward profile." Beta will consist of some of the more
aggressive managers and strategies from Alpha, in higher %
allocations, and some new managers/strategies specifically designed
for Beta's higher total return target, with an allowance for a
little higher risk profile, as measured by beta and standard
deviation. Beta Hedged Strategies is targeted for an early 2006
roll out. "Alpha has been a favorite among financial advisors for
their more conservative clients, and Beta is designed to be more
attractive to the investor seeking a higher rate of return, but
still reduced risk profile vis- a-vis the market indices," added
Schultheis. "Advisors know that they have to be able to offer
conservative, all-weather choices to their clients. By delivering
both a conservative portfolio risk profile and strong risk-adjusted
performance, we feel Alpha Hedged Strategies has met these
objectives. Now with Beta Hedged Strategies, they will have more
tools to work with, in meeting the needs of their clients." About
the Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund The Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund
(ALPHX) is an open-end mutual fund that invests its portfolio in a
manner similar to a conservative hedge fund-of- funds. The fund
employs a multi-manager approach to a variety of hedged alternative
investment styles, but with a liquid portfolio of its own
securities, using the limited amounts of leverage and short-selling
allowable in open-end mutual funds. As a multi-strategy fund, Alpha
Hedged Strategies gives its investors exposure to a broad variety
of active management in alternative strategies including:
Distressed Securities, Earnings Revision Long/Short Equity,
Momentum Long/Short Equity, REIT Long/Short Equity, Deep Discount
Value Long/Short Equity, International Long/Short Equity, Merger
Arbitrage, Fixed- Income Arbitrage, and Convertible Bond Arbitrage.
The Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund utilizes the talents of highly
specialized hedge fund managers, as sub-advisers to the Fund, in
executing their alternative investment strategies. The Fund offers
the portfolio diversification benefits that institutions, pension
funds, endowments & foundations, and high-net worth individuals
have become accustomed to in hedge funds. The Fund combines these
portfolio attributes with the daily pricing, liquidity, and other
shareholder features commonly associated with open-end mutual
funds. As such, the Fund is uniquely positioned to provide its
shareholders with portfolio diversification that goes well beyond
the traditional asset classes of stocks, bonds and cash. For more
information on the Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund please visit
http://www.aipfunds.com/ or call 1-866-LOW-BETA (569-2382). Fund
Disclosure The fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and
expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The
prospectus contains this and other important information about the
investment company, and it may be obtained by calling
1-877-LOW-BETA (569-2382), or visiting http://www.aipfunds.com/.
Read it carefully before investing. The information in this
communication is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell
the Beta Hedged Strategies Fund until the registration statement
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective.
This communication is not an offer to sell these securities and is
not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where
the offer or sale is not permitted. Certain hedging techniques and
leverage employed in the management of the Fund may accelerate the
velocity of possible losses. Short selling involves the risk of
potentially unlimited increase in the market value of the security
sold short, which could result in potentially unlimited loss for
the Fund. Derivatives involve investment exposure that may exceed
the original cost and a small investment in derivatives could have
a large potential impact on the performance of the Fund. Options
held in the Fund may be illiquid and the fund manager may have
difficulty closing out a position. The Fund may also invest in: --
smaller capitalized companies -- subject to more abrupt or erratic
market movements than larger, more established companies; --
foreign securities, which involve currency risk, different
accounting standards and are subject to political instability; --
securities limited to resale to qualified institutional investors,
which can affect their degree of liquidity; -- shares of other
investment companies that invest in securities and styles similar
to the Fund, resulting in a generally higher investment cost than
from investing directly in the underlying shares of these funds.
The Fund intends to utilize these individual securities and hedging
techniques in matched combinations that are designed to neutralize
or offset the individual risks of employing these techniques
separately. Some of these matched strategies include: merger
arbitrage, long/short equity, convertible bond arbitrage and
fixed-income arbitrage. There is no assurance that these strategies
will protect against losses. 2005 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to
Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not
warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar
nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses
arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no
guarantee of future results. * For each fund with at least a
three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating(TM)
metric each month by subtracting the return on a 90-day U.S.
Treasury Bill from the fund's load- adjusted return for the same
period, and then adjusting this excess return for risk. The top 10%
of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4
stars the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars
and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar
Rating(TM) for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the
performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and ten-year
(if applicable) Morningstar Rating(TM) metrics. The Alpha Hedged
Strategies Fund was rated against the following numbers of U.S.
domiciled Conservative Allocation funds over the following time
periods: 252 funds in the last three years. With respect to these
Conservative Allocation funds, Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund
received a Morningstar Rating(TM) of 3 stars for the three-year
period ending 9/30/05. ** Morningstar defines Conservative
Allocation as: a fund that invests in both stocks and bonds and
maintains a relatively small position in stocks. These funds
typically have 20-50% of their assets in stocks and 50-80% of
assets in bonds and cash. Mutual fund investing involves risk; loss
of principal is possible. Please consult an investment professional
for advice regarding your particular circumstances. Beta is a
quantitative measure of the volatility of a given stock, mutual
fund, or portfolio, relative to the overall market, usually the
S&P 500. A beta above 1 is generally more volatile than the
overall market, while a beta below 1 is generally less volatile.
Standard Deviation is a statistical measure of the historical
volatility of a mutual fund or portfolio, using daily net asset
value returns. Quasar Distributors, LLC, Distributor - 10/05
DATASOURCE: Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund CONTACT: Jennifer Connelly
of JC Public Relations for Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund,
+1-908-813-2478, Web site: http://www.aipfunds.com/
http://www.morningstar.com/
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