AB Event Driven Portfolio

One of the more unique offerings within the current UCITS event driven universe, the AB Event Driven fund takes a systematic approach to event driven investing. The team is headed by Vikas Kapoor, aided by portfolio managers Scott Schefrin (hard catalyst focus) and Jorge Chang (soft catalyst focus), supported by numerous research analysts specializing in macro, hedge funds and equities. The fund trades corporate events across developed markets, primarily N. America, Western Europe and Japan, whilst targeting a cash +5% return with mid-single digit volatility. With information advantages dwindling the team believe a systematic approach to hard catalyst events is the optimal way to harvest M&A risk premia, with each trading rule verified by academic research, empirical evidence and quantitative testing. The fund also invests in a variety of soft catalyst events to increase diversification and manage cyclicality, with a systematic approach taken to identify and allocate to understandable and intuitive soft catalyst events. The funds risk budget is loosely designed to be 50/50 between hard and soft, though there is plenty of flexibility based on the current opportunity set. The outcome to the team endeavours is what they argue to be a more efficient and cost-effective approach to event driven investing.