Karsch Capital Management, founded by Michael Karsch.in 2000, manages a total of 2.5 billion in assets. Karsch’s flagship fund, Karsch Capital Ltd, is up 1.3 percent in August, an improvement from the loss of -0.3 percent in July. The fund’s net return year to date is up 5.2 percent. The annualized return is 7.1 percent since inception. On the basis of location, the fund has the most exposure in the US and some in Europe on the long side. There is very little short exposure in Asia Pacific including Japan.
The fund’s top ten positions in the long portfolio include Tyco International Ltd (NYSE:TYC), Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIA) (NASDAQ:VIAB), Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS), and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). The top ten longs make up about 40 percent of Karsch Capital Ltd’s portfolio. The top ten shorts make up 18 percent of the total portfolio. Among them are, SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY), Pentair Inc (NYSE:PNR), McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW), and iShares Russell 2000 Index (ETF) (NYSEARCA:IWM).
By Sector, the fund’s assets are concentrated in Industrials/Materials, followed by Telecom/Media. Technology and Healthcare each make about 12 percent of the gross portfolio. The fund also invests in Financials/real estate, and some shorts in hedges.
Karsch Capital‘s other funds also performed moderately well in August. Karsch Capital II, LP returned 1.1 percent in the last month, up from -0.1 percent in July. The year to date returns are up 5.8 percent. Most of the fund’s assets are invested in longs and shorts in US.
The KCM Plus Ltd fund was founded in 2010, and has returned 4.8 percent on a cumulative basis, which is shadowed by the 33.4 percent return on the S&P 500 index. The Plus Ltd was up 2.4 percent in August, a significant improvement from -0.6 percent in the previous month. The YTD returns are now 8.9 percent. The Plus LP was up 2.1 percent in Aug and +9.4 percent in the year so far.
