This month marked the fifth anniversary of the Aura High Yield SME Fund, which launched in August 2017.
We are particularly proud of how the Fund has been able to navigate the last two years, while the Australian economy weathered the effects of rising interest rates, conflicts in Eastern Europe, inflation led by supply chain constraints, and Covid-19 lockdowns.
Aura High Yield SME Fund is a wholesale Fund that invests in pools of Australian SME business loans, originated by tech-enabled non-bank lenders. In the five years since inception, we've produced consistent monthly positive returns and Assets Under Management have grown more than 100% on an annualised basis. For 100% months since inception, our net asset value has remained steady at a dollar—achieving returns ranging anywhere from 60 bps up to 92 bps per month with a positive correlation to the RBA Cash Rate. Consistency and capital preservation are core objectives of the fund.
We focus on funding Australian businesses because they employ over 70% of the Australian workforce. In our view, there are several foregone opportunities within the Australian SME lending market due to a lack of capital availability.
The Fund has been rated by both Foresight and Evergreen, sitting at the second top level on both of those scales. We’ve maintained these ratings, particularly with Foresight, since we started the Fund. Evergreen has been rating us for over three years and we’ve maintained a strong level throughout that time.
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