29 Jan Q4 2023 Commentary
The Variant Alternative Income Fund (the “Fund” or “NICHX) returned +2.72% in the fourth quarter of 2023, during a period of positive performance across asset classes. Over the past quarter, NICHX trailed investment grade bonds and corporate high yield bonds. Over the past year, NICHX maintained outperformance to investment grade bonds alongside modest underperformance to high yield bonds. Since inception, the Fund delivered annualized net returns of 9.02%, significantly outperforming both indices.
Source: Bloomberg
NICHX continues to show strong performance over the three and five-year intervals as well, attaining net returns of +10.16% and +9.69%, respectively, far outperforming investment grade bonds and high yield corporate bonds over those periods.
Source: Bloomberg
In terms of performance attribution, the Fund experienced broad positive contributions across the majority of positions in the portfolio. The Fund benefited from core niche exposures, with specialty finance, litigation finance and real estate debt providing the largest positive impact to returns over the quarter. No asset class provided a negative contribution to performance in the 4th quarter.
As for changes in portfolio positioning, Variant continued to invest capital into current and new positions. The Fund made additional investments with partners across areas of the market including producer advances, medical liens, specialist care, and consumer credit. Regarding new investments, the Fund made initial investments across real estate debt, transportation finance, and specialty finance. In the real estate debt bucket, the Fund participated as a co-lender with a real estate focused special situations lender to provide a bridge loan for a mixed-use real estate development. The fund also structured a senior credit facility to an asset-based lender providing short-term floorplan credit lines to independent car dealers, as well as a credit facility to a crowdfunding platform financing origination of asset-backed notes for a fintech.
Assets under management increased slightly in the fourth quarter to $2,897 million, rounding out a 2023 increase of $621 million. Liquidity management remains a key focus given the underlying private exposures and the current market environment. As of December 31st, the Fund could access an estimated 29.9% of its investments over a 12-month period.
The Fund paid out a 5.39% distribution in the fourth quarter, bringing the annual distribution rate for 2023 to 9.88%. In addition, the fund executed another redemption offering. This redemption offer fulfilled 100% of client requests without proration, as has been the case throughout the Fund’s history.
For current performance and holdings, please click here.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Inception date is October 2, 2017. Returns are net total returns. Between October 2017 and September 2018, performance is quoted for the Variant Alternative Income Fund LP, the predecessor private fund that converted into the interval fund. The predecessor fund was, in all material respects, equivalent to the interval fund. The private fund track record was adjusted to reflect the interval fund’s estimated expenses and expense limitations. Specifically, it reflects a management fee of 0.95% and fund expenses capped at 0.50%. The track record uses geometric returns and reflects the reinvestment of earnings. Results are unaudited.
“IG bonds” & “BBG Agg ” refer to the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index, which is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. “High yield” & “BBG HY” refer to the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Index, which measures the U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield, fixed-rate corporate bond market. Please note: The referenced indices are shown for general market comparisons. Investors cannot directly invest in an index and unmanaged index returns do not reflect any fees, expenses or transaction costs. Reference indices are provided for illustrative purposes only. There are no known published benchmarks or indices comparable to the investment strategies of the Fund.
The Variant Alternative Income Fund is a continuously-offered, non-diversified, registered closed-end fund with limited liquidity. There is no guarantee the Fund will achieve its objective. An investment in the Fund should only be made by investors who understand the risks involved, who are able to withstand the loss of the entire amount invested and who can bear the risks associated with the limited liquidity of Shares. A prospective investor must meet the definition of “accredited investor” under Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933.
Important Risks: Shares are an illiquid investment. You should generally not expect to be able to sell your Shares (other than through the repurchase process), regardless of how the Fund performs. Although the Fund is required to implement a Share repurchase program only a limited number of Shares will be eligible for repurchase by the Fund.
An investment in the Fund is speculative, involves substantial risks, including the risk that the entire amount invested may be lost, and should not constitute a complete investment program. The Fund may leverage its investments by borrowing, use of swap agreements, options or other derivative instruments. The Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company, meaning it may be more susceptible to any single economic or regulatory occurrence than a diversified investment company. In addition, the fund is subject to investment related risks of the underlying funds, general economic and market condition risk.
Alternative investments provide limited liquidity and include, among other things, the risks inherent in investing in securities, futures, commodities and derivatives, using leverage and engaging in short sales. The Fund’s investment performance depends, at least in part, on how its assets are allocated and reallocated among asset classes and strategies. Such allocation could result in the Fund holding asset classes or investments that perform poorly or underperform. Investments and investment transactions are subject to various counterparty risks. The counterparties to transactions in over the-counter or “inter-dealer” markets are typically subject to lesser credit evaluation and regulatory oversight compared to members of “exchange-based” markets. This may increase the risk that a counterparty will not settle a transaction because of a credit or liquidity problem, thus causing the Fund to suffer losses. The Fund and its service providers may be prone to operational and information security risks resulting from breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption, or lose operational capacity.
BEFORE INVESTING YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE FUND’S INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES, RISKS, CHARGES AND EXPENSES. THIS AND OTHER INFORMATION IS IN THE PROSPECTUS, A COPY OF WHICH MAY BE OBTAINED FROM (877) 770-7717 OR WWW.VARIANTINVESTMENTS.COM. PLEASE READ THE PROSPECTUS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU INVEST.
UMB Distribution Services, LLC, distributor.