Amundi Sand Grove Event Driven Fund

Sand Grove Capital Management focus on delivering idiosyncratic alpha through a value-biased approach to event driven investing. The firm was founded by Simon Davies who is CIO and PM for the fund. He is supported by a team of 9 investment professionals, with 23 people in the broader firm. Sand Grove employs a global event driven strategy with a European tilt and a focus on hard-catalyst merger arb situations, with up to 30% of risk invested in equity special situations. The fund employs a rigorous and fundamental investment process, ingrained with a value-biased approach and is prepared to adopt contrarian views when beneficial. The focus lies in uncovering opportunities in less-followed, complex situations across the market cap spectrum, and while the fund has a global mandate, the team feel best prepared to find idiosyncratic alpha opportunities in Europe. The investment process begins with an initial evaluation involving a detailed analysis of key event dynamics, outcome modelling, return and risk assessment, and the determination of downside/break price and implied probabilities. In the due diligence phase, the team engages in a comprehensive examination of the event rationale, stakeholder motivations, and contractual obligations. A thorough evaluation of company fundamentals, sector trends, and peer group performance is also conducted to validate key valuation metrics and projections. For portfolio construction, the fund focuses on high conviction positions where its perspective diverges from the market consensus. Core special situation positions typically comprise 2-4% of NAV, while merger arbitrage positions account for around 5-7% of NAV. The portfolio is sized following a strict maximum loss framework, ensuring flexibility and resilience as events unfold. The portfolio will typically consist of 30-40 deals with a gross exposure between 120-150%. The fund aims to achieve high single-digit returns with a volatility below 8% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.0, while maintaining a low correlation to equity markets.