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AMG To Liquidate The AMG FQ Global Alternatives Fund

By DailyAlts Staff On June 26, the AMG Funds I trust filed paperwork with the SEC announcing its plan to liquidate the AMG FQ Global Alternatives Fund (MUTF: MGAAX ), a global tactical allocation fund, on or about July 31. The fund, which launched in 2006, has a one-star rating from Morningstar. Its -5.98% year-to-date returns through June 30 ranked in the bottom 2% of all funds in Morningstar’s Multialternative category. The decision to liquidate was made at a June 25 meeting of the AMG Funds I Board of Trustees. Effective the very next day, the fund stopped accepting most new investments and started selling its portfolio investments. Proceeds from the sales are being held in cash and cash equivalents and will be distributed to shareholders on the liquidation date. The fund sought to outperform the Citigroup 1-month T-bill index, but routinely failed to do so. Since launching on March 30, 2006, the AMG FQ Global Alternatives Fund has dramatically underperformed. In addition to ranking in the bottom 2% of all Multialternative funds in 2015, the fund generated negative annual returns in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014; and lagged the category average by 170 basis points in 2012. A $10,000 investment in the AMG FQ Global Alternatives Fund at its inception would have dwindled in value to $8,829.53 as of June 25, 2015, the day the fund’s Board of Trustees decided to liquidate. By comparison, a $10,000 investment in the average fund in Morningstar’s Multialternative category would have grown to $11,408.56 over that same time. As of June 30, the fund’s assets stood at slightly over $15.9 million. Investors with automatic investment plans through IRAs and 401(k)s may still buy shares until the liquidation date. Shareholders who don’t hold their shares in tax-advantaged accounts may have taxable gains or losses upon liquidation. Share this article with a colleague

Tortoise Capital Advisors Debuts In The U.S. With North American Pipeline ETF

Master limited partnerships (MLPs) which had put up a great show last year despite plunging oil prices saw a weak start to the year. MLPs finally had to give in to the oil price massacre. However, the weakness in the space gave many an entry point in these products, given their high level of yield. This popularity is probably attracting new issuers to come up with products focusing on this space. Most recently, Tortoise Capital Advisors has made a debut in the U.S. ETF market with a brand new product. The Tortoise North American Pipeline Fund (NYSEARCA: TPYP ) and charges 0.7% as fees. TPYP The passively managed product seeks to provide exposure to the broad North American energy pipeline sector by tracking the performance of the Tortoise North American Pipeline Index. This float-adjusted, cap-weighted index includes pipeline companies structured as corporations, limited liability companies and master limited partnerships (MLPs). The index uses proprietary, research-driven and rules-based methodologies to select its constituents. TPYP currently holds a basket of 102 stocks, with Williams Cos Inc. (NYSE: WMB ) as the top holding with 9.2% exposure, followed by Enbridge Inc (NYSE: ENB ) and Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI ) with 7.8% and 7.5% allocation, respectively. How Does it Fit in The Portfolio? MLPs represent an attractive investment option for income-focused investors in the current environment. In addition to high yields (~4% to 6% currently), MLPs have relatively stable cash flows and solid growth potential. Further, research suggests that there is no material correlation between interest rates and the performance of the MLPs. Moreover, energy production boom in the U.S. remains the long-term growth driver for these MLPs. Further, MLPs have low correlations with many other asset classes including equities and commodities and thus add diversification benefits to a portfolio. “We created this fund based on what we perceived as a need in the market for an ETF that not only provides access to the full universe of North American pipeline companies, but does so in a way that more fully captures the total return potential of these assets” said Jeremy Goff, Vice President at Tortoise. Investors in TPYP will not be subject to K-1 tax forms. Can TPYP Succeed? There are already quite a number of funds targeting the MLP space with the ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEARCA: AMLP ) the most popular product with an asset base of $8.4 billion and an average trading volume of more than $4.4 million shares. The fund has a dividend yield of 7.45% and is down 7% this year. Though AMLP’s expense ratio before deferred taxes is 0.85%, the gross expense ratio is currently extremely high at 8.56%. The J PMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSEARCA: AMJ ) and the UBS ETRACS Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index ETN (NYSEARCA: MLPI ) take the next two spots with an AUM base of $4.9 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. Both AMJ and MLPI charge 85 basis points as fees and offer an attractive yield of 5.88% and 5.33%, respectively. Thus competition is tough in the MLP space. However, if the newly launched fund “captures the total return potential of these assets” and generates better returns than the existing ones, it might see some success.

GREK: A Deal Is Near, But The Game Is Not Over Yet

Summary A deal between Greece and its creditors is near, but the Greek parliament must accept austerity measures by Wednesday. Greek banks need liquidity but the ECB won’t provide it to them if the parliament doesn’t pass the measures. Bank shares represent 25% of GREK’s portfolio and they may push its share price significantly upwards as well as downwards. GREK has a lot of upside potential after the new deal is closed, but investors should monitor steps of Greek government closely, as the Greek politicians are highly unreliable. As I wrote back in March , the Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (NYSEARCA: GREK ) has a significant upside potential, after the current situation is resolved. A lot of things have changed, but the situation hasn’t been resolved yet. GREK lost half of its value over the last 12 months, but the decline has slowed down significantly over the last couple of months. The $9 line wasn’t breached and the recent developments indicate that it maybe won’t be retested anytime soon. But the Greek debt saga hasn’t ended yet and the current optimism may turn into a huge sell off as soon as on Wednesday. Do we have a deal? Although the deal between Greece and its creditors is close, the game is still not over. After 17 hours of negotiations, there is an agreement that Greece will not have to leave the eurozone and that it will get another €86 billion, but the Greek parliament must approve austerity measures by Wednesday. The Greeks have to reform their VAT system, reduce pensions and make some immediate budget cuts. Greece will also create a trust fund that will manage state assets worth approximately €50 billion. The fund should be based in Greece but it will be managed by an external agency. The assets held by the fund should be privatized and the proceeds should be used primarily for debt repayments. It is expected that shares of Greek banks will represent a big part of the assets, as the Greek government will buy new shares of the banks in order to refinance them. The shares will be transferred to the fund subsequently. All of the measures must be accepted by the Greek parliament by Wednesday. And it is not sure whether all of the proposals will really pass, as there is a lot of Greek politicians who are against the austerity measures. Tsipras will need votes of the opposition, as he can’t rely on support of his own party. The Wednesday deadline is important also for the cash-strapped Greek banks. They desperately need liquidity from the ECB but it is expected that the ECB won’t provide them any liquidity if the austerity measures are not accepted by the parliament on Wednesday. If the measures pass on Wednesday, the GREK share price should start to realize its upside potential. Although there is a significant danger that there will be some complications. In this case the EU will probably postpone the deadline by a couple of days (the EU is really great in postponing deadlines and Greece is really great in missing deadlines) in order to enable another voting, but the reaction of investors may be very nervous. A breakage of the $9 level isn’t excluded. GREK composition and growth prospects The table below shows complete holdings of GREK, as of July 10. The biggest holding is Coca-Cola HBC ( OTC:CCHBF ) that represents almost 21% of GREK’s portfolio. A strong position has also Hellenic Telecommunications Organization ( OTC:HLTOY ). Both of the companies should be relatively stable. The problem is that GREK also holds a lot of bank shares. Source: own processing, using data of globalxfunds.com The National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG ), Alpha Bank ( OTC:ALBKY ), Eurobank Ergasias ( OTC:EGFEY ) and Piraeus Bank ( OTC:BPIRY ) represent almost 25% of GREK’s portfolio. These shares may lead the rally if the austerity measures are accepted and the ECB provides liquidity to Greek banks. On the other hand if there are some complications, shares of banks will be most probably the biggest losers. Conclusion I still believe that GREK has a significant upside potential, in the longer term. After the austerity measures are accepted, we can expect a relief rally. But the investors should be careful, as the Greek politicians have shown that they are highly unreliable. They had agreed to make some economic reforms in the past, but they violated their promises only a couple of months later. Even if the Greek parliament accepts the current proposals, there is no warranty that the Greek government will play by the rules. In this case, GREK shareholders should be prepared to liquidate their positions as soon as possible, to avoid losses similar to those recorded by GREK over the last 12 months. Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. (More…) I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.