AXS Alternative Growth Fund
INVESTMENT MANAGERS SERIES TRUST II
Expense ratio
Net assets1
$1.75M
Holdings1
2
Category
Other
Return

Investment objective & strategy

As of Feb. 7, 2022 · prospectus

Objective. The investment objective of the AXS Alternative Growth Fund (the Fund) is to seek to achieve returns and volatility comparable to the S&P 500 Total Return Index, while seeking to avoid the full impact of downside risk.

Strategy. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by utilizing two broad strategies: (1) the Equity Strategy, and (2) the Overlay Strategy. The Equity Strategy seeks to provide returns (after fees and expenses) comparable to those of the S&P 500 Total Return Index (the Equity Index), while the Overlay Strategy seeks to complement these equity returns with non-correlated and negatively correlated return streams that are designed to result in an overall portfolio with returns and volatility comparable to the Equity Index, while seeking to avoid the full impact of downside risk over a full market cycle (generally three to five years or longer). (1) The Equity (Long) Strategy The Equity Strategy seeks to track the performance of the Equity Index. … The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by utilizing two broad strategies: (1) the Equity Strategy, and (2) the Overlay Strategy. The Equity Strategy seeks to provide returns (after fees and expenses) comparable to those of the S&P 500 Total Return Index (the Equity Index), while the Overlay Strategy seeks to complement these equity returns with non-correlated and negatively correlated return streams that are designed to result in an overall portfolio with returns and volatility comparable to the Equity Index, while seeking to avoid the full impact of downside risk over a full market cycle (generally three to five years or longer). (1) The Equity (Long) Strategy The Equity Strategy seeks to track the performance of the Equity Index. It is expected that, on average, between 85% and 115% of the Funds assets will be exposed to broad-based U.S. equity markets, generally by investing in (i) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or other investment companies that seek to track the composition and/or performance of the Equity Index (or other broad U.S. equity indices), and/or (ii) derivative instruments such as futures, options or total return swaps (swaps) that provide exposure to the Equity Index (or other broad U.S. equity indices). The Fund will make such investments either directly, or indirectly by investing through a swap or through the Funds wholly-owned subsidiary (the Subsidiary) which may itself invest in such assets directly or indirectly. (2) The Overlay Strategy The Overlay Strategy seeks to provide incremental positive expected returns, while seeking to reduce the magnitude of the losses associated with the Equity Strategy during the periods in which the Equity Index produces negative returns (peak-to-trough drawdowns). However, unlike traditional asset allocation methodologies, the Overlay Strategy seeks to provide enhanced diversification without the need to reduce the Funds Equity Strategy exposure in the process. Because the Funds strategy is designed to be measured over a full market cycle, the Overlay Strategy may not mitigate down-side movement in the short-term. The Overlay Strategy consists of (A) the Hedging Strategy, which seeks to hedge dynamically all or a portion of the Funds exposure to the equity markets, and (B) the Enhanced Diversification Strategy, which seeks to access return streams that have generally low correlations to the equity markets. A. The Hedging (Short) Strategy The Hedging Strategy aims to hedge the Funds equity market exposure dynamically, generally seeking to reduce the overall exposure when the broad equity market is trending down, while seeking to maintain higher exposure when the broad equity market is trending up. Exposure is generally adjusted by trading in trending futures markets that are negatively correlated to equity markets, or by dynamically allocating risk to strategies that are expected to perform positively when equity markets are expected to trend down. Exposure may also be adjusted discretionarily, based on fundamental and macroeconomic analysis. Thus, the Hedging Strategy seeks to mitigate peak-to-trough drawdowns while seeking to maintain the level and volatility of the Funds returns. The Funds sub-advisor, Ampersand Investment Management LLC (Ampersand or the Sub-Advisor) expects to implement its Hedging Strategy through accessing trading programs that tend to have generally negative correlations with equity markets and are intended to serve as a hedge for equity investment portfolios (Hedging Programs). This will generally involve entering into, either directly or indirectly through the Subsidiary, one or more total return swaps that provide exposure to trading strategies such as (i) the Quest Dynamic Financial Hedge Program (the Quest Hedging Program), a proprietary systematic futures trading strategy of Quest Partners LLP (Quest), a commodity trading advisor (CTA) registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; (ii) the QDRA Dynamic Macro strategy, a proprietary systematic futures trading strategy of QDRA Pty Limited, an Australia-based alternative asset manager; and (iii) Quadriga SmartGold strategy, a futures and options trading program that seeks to provide crisis alpha during significant equity market meltdowns through dynamic long exposure to anti-bubble assets (such as precious metals, U.S. Treasury securities, the U.S. dollar, and the VIX Index) and dynamic short exposure to bubble assets (such as equities, high-yield debt, and credit). From time to time, based on market conditions, Ampersand may allocate to other Hedging Programs with low to negative correlations to equities, which may be utilized in addition to or in place of the programs described above. B. The Enhanced Diversification Strategy The Enhanced Diversification Strategy aims to achieve enhanced diversification through exposure to multiple strategies that seek to generate positive returns over time but tend to have low correlations to equities. The Enhanced Diversification Strategy thus seeks to enhance the Funds risk-adjusted performance based on Modern Portfolio Theory concepts such as the efficient frontier, which assumes that the addition of non-correlated assets to more traditional assets will result in superior risk-adjusted returns over time. Ampersand expects to implement its Enhanced Diversification Strategy by constructing a portfolio of commodities trading programs that are managed by regulated asset managers. These enhanced diversification strategies generally provide exposure to broadly diversified global (i.e., U.S. and non-U.S.) markets across four major asset classes: stock indices, fixed income, currencies, and commodities, by opportunistically taking long or short positions, mainly in futures, forwards, options, or spot contracts. Ampersand obtains exposure to these enhanced diversification strategies by investing directly, or indirectly through the Subsidiary, in derivative instruments such as one or more swaps. Subsidiary . The Fund may make some or all of its investments through the Subsidiary. Applicable federal tax requirements generally limit the degree to which the Fund may invest in the Subsidiary to an amount not exceeding 25% of its total assets at each quarter end of the Funds fiscal year. Generally, the Subsidiary will primarily invest directly or indirectly in swaps, financial futures, foreign exchange currency forwards, U.S. government securities, money market funds, and/or other investments intended to serve as margin or collateral for the Subsidiarys derivative positions. Through investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund, will among other things, be able to gain exposure to the commodities markets within the limitations of the federal tax laws, rules and regulations that apply to regulated investment companies. To the extent they are applicable to the investment activities of the Subsidiary, the Subsidiary will be subject to the same investment restrictions and limitations, and follow the same compliance policies and procedures, as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary may invest without limitation in commodity-linked derivative instruments (including commodity futures), however, the Subsidiary will comply with the same asset coverage requirements required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act) with respect to its investments in commodity-linked derivatives (including commodity futures) that are applicable to the Funds transactions in derivatives. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary will not seek to qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The Fund is the sole shareholder of the Subsidiary and does not expect shares of the Subsidiary to be offered or sold to other investors. From time to time, the Fund may hold a portion of its net assets in cash or cash equivalents, money market funds, securities issued by the U.S. government and fixed-income securities. These cash equivalents and short-term investments may serve as margin and/or collateral for the derivatives positions of the Fund. The Fund may also invest in short-term to medium-term fixed-income securities that are generally investment-grade, but may, from time to time, be below investment-grade. The Funds exposure to fixed income securities may be through investments in ETFs.

Top holdings

As of Sept. 30, 2022 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
MONEYMKT FIGXX $1.25M 71.75%
UMB MONEY MARKET FIDUCIARY / UMBXX $9.50K 0.54%
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Allocation by sector

As of September 30, 2022 · N-PORT
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Portfolio moves

Jun 30, 2022 → Sep 30, 2022
Opened
0
Exited
0
Increased
0
Decreased
2
Unchanged
1

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

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Footnotes

  1. Net assets and holdings count as of September 30, 2022, from the fund's N-PORT filing.

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