2021 ha sido un gran año para la economía y la bolsa estadounidenses. Las acciones subieron en el balance mensual, en el cuarto trimestre y en el año, y registraron su mayor ganancia en el acumulado a tres años desde 1999. La fortaleza del rally del S&P 500 se ha reflejado en los 70 máximos históricos que registró durante el año, solo por detrás de la marca de 77 cierres de 1995. La economía estadounidense escenificó una fuerte recuperación, al compensar la demanda al alza las alteraciones en la cadena de suministro y la fabricación de microchip, los precios al alza, la escasez de mano de obra y el lastre que han supuesto las mutaciones de COVID-19 sobre el sector servicios. De cara a 2022, serán buenos presagios las nuevas reaperturas económicas, el efecto riqueza del consumidor y la restauración de los inventarios.
La subida de la inflación subyacente de EE.UU. por encima de lo esperado por el consenso pilló al Comité Federal del Mercado Abierto (FOMC por sus siglas en inglés) por sorpresa, impulsando en 60 puntos básicos la rentabilidad del bono estadounidense a diez años hasta 1,51%, el nivel más alto desde 2013, cuando la rentabilidad subió 127 puntos básicos hasta el 3,03%. Recordemos que el 22 de mayo de 2012 Ben Bernanke, presidente de la Fed, anunció el inicio de la redacción del QE, prendiendo el “taper tantrum” en los mercados de renta fija.
En su mensaje de bienvenida al año nuevo, el presidente chino Xi Jinping incidió sobre la necesidad de mantener un “foco estratégico”: “Debemos mantener siempre una perspectiva de largo plazo, seguir siendo conscientes de los riesgos potenciales, manteniendo un enfoque estratégico y determinación, y lograr lo amplio y grande mientras que atendemos lo delicado e insignificante”.
La actividad de M&A se mantuvo vibrante en el cuarto trimestre de 2021, hasta los 1,5 billones de dólares. Es el sexto trimestre consecutivo en el que el M&A superó el billón de dólares, y el segundo trimestre de mayor actividad de la historia. La fortaleza del cuarto trimestre llevó la actividad total del M&A del año hasta los 5,9 billones de dólares, el año más fuerte desde que hay registros y un 64% más en comparación con los niveles de 2020. Excluyendo las adquisiciones de las SPACs, que supusieron 600.000 millones de dólares o el 10% de la actividad, la actividad total del M&A en 2021 supuso 5,3 billones de dólares, igualmente un máximo histórico desde que hay registros. Creemos que se mantendrán los motores de crecimiento para mantener la fortaleza de la actividad en 2022 y más allá.
El 2021 ha sido un año algo deslucido para los convertibles en términos globales. Después de la rentabilidad récord e los últimos años, finalmente los convertibles se tomaron un respiro, con una revisión de las valoraciones y de los términos. Aunque las nuevas emisiones siguieron siendo fuertes este año, muchas lo han sido en términos poco atractivos. Las emisiones de gran tamaño sin cupones y con primas de más del 50% tendieron a tener una rentabilidad inferior, arrastrando al mercado con ellas. Finalmente, los convertibles tradicionalmente se han visto favorecidos por las compañías en crecimiento, y la rotación de growth a value aquí jugó un papel importante. Con los tipos de interés al alza, las valoraciones growth empezaron a parecer un poco excesivas, y aunque los convertibles batieron en rentabilidad a sus acciones subyacentes al caer estas, la rentabilidad en relación con los mercados de renta variable fue decepcionante.
De cara al futuro, somos optimistas con nuestro mercado este año. En primer lugar, 2021 fue un año de reinicio. El mercado rechazo algunos de los términos excesivos, y al volver las valoraciones growth a poner los pies en la tierra, estamos empezando a ver algunas valoraciones atractivas que destacan en medio de la carnicería. Aunque los tipos al alza puedan forzar la revisión a la baja de algunas valoraciones growth, están sentando las bases para emisiones más atractivas en el futuro. Los tipos al alza han sido buenos tradicionalmente para el mercado, al subir los convertibles todas y cada una de las últimas diez veces que hemos visto un incremento de 100 puntos básicos en los treasuries a diez años. Aunque puede que haya más sensibilidad de tipos este año, la mayoría del mercado seguirá impulsada todavía por las acciones subyacentes.
______________________________________
To access our proprietary value investment methodology, and dedicated merger arbitrage portfolio we offer the following UCITS Funds in each discipline:
GAMCO MERGER ARBITRAGE
GAMCO Merger Arbitrage UCITS Fund, launched in October 2011, is an open-end fund incorporated in Luxembourg and compliant with UCITS regulation. The team, dedicated strategy, and record dates back to 1985. The objective of the GAMCO Merger Arbitrage Fund is to achieve long-term capital growth by investing primarily in announced equity merger and acquisition transactions while maintaining a diversified portfolio. The Fund utilizes a highly specialized investment approach designed principally to profit from the successful completion of proposed mergers, takeovers, tender offers, leveraged buyouts and other types of corporate reorganizations. Analyzes and continuously monitors each pending transaction for potential risk, including: regulatory, terms, financing, and shareholder approval.
Merger investments are a highly liquid, non-market correlated, proven and consistent alternative to traditional fixed income and equity securities. Merger returns are dependent on deal spreads. Deal spreads are a function of time, deal risk premium, and interest rates. Returns are thus correlated to interest rate changes over the medium term and not the broader equity market. The prospect of rising rates would imply higher returns on mergers as spreads widen to compensate arbitrageurs. As bond markets decline (interest rates rise), merger returns should improve as capital allocation decisions adjust to the changes in the costs of capital.
Broad Market volatility can lead to widening of spreads in merger positions, coupled with our well-researched merger portfolios, offer the potential for enhanced IRRs through dynamic position sizing. Daily price volatility fluctuations coupled with less proprietary capital (the Volcker rule) in the U.S. have contributed to improving merger spreads and thus, overall returns. Thus our fund is well positioned as a cash substitute or fixed income alternative.
Our objectives are to compound and preserve wealth over time, while remaining non-correlated to the broad global markets. We created our first dedicated merger fund 32 years ago. Since then, our merger performance has grown client assets at an annualized rate of approximately 10.7% gross and 7.6% net since 1985. Today, we manage assets on behalf of institutional and high net worth clients globally in a variety of fund structures and mandates.
Class I USD – LU0687944552
Class I EUR – LU0687944396
Class A USD – LU0687943745
Class A EUR – LU0687943661
Class R USD – LU1453360825
Class R EUR – LU1453361476
GAMCO ALL CAP VALUE
The GAMCO All Cap Value UCITS Fund launched in May, 2015 utilizes Gabelli’s its proprietary PMV with a Catalyst™ investment methodology, which has been in place since 1977. The Fund seeks absolute returns through event driven value investing. Our methodology centers around fundamental, research-driven, value based investing with a focus on asset values, cash flows and identifiable catalysts to maximize returns independent of market direction. The fund draws on the experience of its global portfolio team and 35+ value research analysts.
GAMCO is an active, bottom-up, value investor, and seeks to achieve real capital appreciation (relative to inflation) over the long term regardless of market cycles. Our value-oriented stock selection process is based on the fundamental investment principles first articulated in 1934 by Graham and Dodd, the founders of modern security analysis, and further augmented by Mario Gabelli in 1977 with his introduction of the concepts of Private Market Value (PMV) with a Catalyst™ into equity analysis. PMV with a Catalyst™ is our unique research methodology that focuses on individual stock selection by identifying firms selling below intrinsic value with a reasonable probability of realizing their PMV’s which we define as the price a strategic or financial acquirer would be willing to pay for the entire enterprise. The fundamental valuation factors utilized to evaluate securities prior to inclusion/exclusion into the portfolio, our research driven approach views fundamental analysis as a three pronged approach: free cash flow (earnings before, interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, minus the capital expenditures necessary to grow/maintain the business); earnings per share trends; and private market value (PMV), which encompasses on and off balance sheet assets and liabilities. Our team arrives at a PMV valuation by a rigorous assessment of fundamentals from publicly available information and judgement gained from meeting management, covering all size companies globally and our comprehensive, accumulated knowledge of a variety of sectors. We then identify businesses for the portfolio possessing the proper margin of safety and research variables from our deep research universe.
Class I USD – LU1216601648
Class I EUR – LU1216601564
Class A USD – LU1216600913
Class A EUR – LU1216600673
Class R USD – LU1453359900
Class R EUR – LU1453360155
GAMCO CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES
GAMCO Convertible Securities’ objective is to seek to provide current income as well as long term capital appreciation through a total return strategy by investing in a diversified portfolio of global convertible securities.
The Fund leverages the firm’s history of investing in dedicated convertible security portfolios since 1979.
The fund invests in convertible securities, as well as other instruments that have economic characteristics similar to such securities, across global markets (but the fund will not invest in contingent convertible notes). The fund may invest in securities of any market capitalization or credit quality, including up to 100% in below investment grade or unrated securities, and may from time to time invest a significant amount of its assets in securities of smaller companies. Convertible securities may include any suitable convertible instruments such as convertible bonds, convertible notes or convertible preference shares.
By actively managing the fund and investing in convertible securities, the investment manager seeks the opportunity to participate in the capital appreciation of underlying stocks, while at the same time relying on the fixed income aspect of the convertible securities to provide current income and reduced price volatility, which can limit the risk of loss in a down equity market.
Class I USD LU2264533006
Class I EUR LU2264532966
Class A USD LU2264532701
Class A EUR LU2264532610
Class R USD LU2264533345
Class R EUR LU2264533261
Class F USD LU2264533691
Class F EUR LU2264533428
Disclaimer:
The information and any opinions have been obtained from or are based on sources believed to be reliable but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. No responsibility can be accepted for any consequential loss arising from the use of this information. The information is expressed at its date and is issued only to and directed only at those individuals who are permitted to receive such information in accordance with the applicable statutes. In some countries the distribution of this publication may be restricted. It is your responsibility to find out what those restrictions are and observe them.
Some of the statements in this presentation may contain or be based on forward looking statements, forecasts, estimates, projections, targets, or prognosis (“forward looking statements”), which reflect the manager’s current view of future events, economic developments and financial performance. Such forward looking statements are typically indicated by the use of words which express an estimate, expectation, belief, target or forecast. Such forward looking statements are based on an assessment of historical economic data, on the experience and current plans of the investment manager and/or certain advisors of the manager, and on the indicated sources. These forward looking statements contain no representation or warranty of whatever kind that such future events will occur or that they will occur as described herein, or that such results will be achieved by the fund or the investments of the fund, as the occurrence of these events and the results of the fund are subject to various risks and uncertainties. The actual portfolio, and thus results, of the fund may differ substantially from those assumed in the forward looking statements. The manager and its affiliates will not undertake to update or review the forward looking statements contained in this presentation, whether as result of new information or any future event or otherwise.