Overview
Tycho CapeView European Long Short Fund seeks to deliver consistent, risk-adjusted returns by taking long and short positions in European equities. The fund combines fundamental, bottom-up stock selection with disciplined portfolio construction and active risk management to generate positive alpha, while maintaining low net market exposure.
Strategy & Manager
Fund Strategy
CapeView is a low-net, low-gross European equity long short fund that combines fundamental bottom-up stock picking with active risk management. The aim is to generate a consistent, low volatility return stream, with positive alpha, and to preserve capital in market drawdowns. The CapeView portfolio typically consists of circa 40 investments, with roughly equal number of longs and shorts, across all sectors except life insurance and biotechnology. Investments are made in Western Europe, Scandinavia and UK companies only, where the markets are liquid and have strong regulatory frameworks. The strategy has a flexible mandate to invest across all market capitalisations, with a position sizing matrix that limits the position size of less liquid names. Options are used for hedging purposes and actively traded to minimise cost.
Key Persons
Sushil Shah - Portfolio Manager
Sushil joined Trafalgar Asset Managers (the predecessor Investment Manager) in November 2001. Prior to co-founding the Azri Fund in 2007, Sushil was the firm’s Head of Equity Trading, covering equity markets globally but with a focus on European stocks. Prior to joining Trafalgar, he worked for Accenture in the Financial Services Market unit. Sushil holds a MBA from City Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Economics from Manchester University.
Michael Sakkas - Portfolio Manager
Michael began his career at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (ex-Mercury Asset Management) in 2000 and was a member of the UK Specialist Team where he co-managed the UK hedge fund. He moved to Park Town Asset Management in 2004 as a joint portfolio manager and equity partner, where he co-managed the long-short equity strategy. In 2007, Michael joined Trafalgar to launch the Azri fund with Sushil. Michael has a BSc from the University of Bristol in Economics and Economic History and is a CFA charter holder.
Performance
Class Performance
Commentary
Investment Manager’s Commentary – April 2026
The Tycho CapeView European Long Short Fund returned +4.3% (Class F USD) in April as markets recovered from the March sell off.
As detailed in the last newsletter, we used the weakness in March to add to our high conviction names. This worked well in April, with the long book performing well. However, there was strong alpha on the short side too. The top winner for the month was a short in a rolling stock company after the company warned that profits and cash flow will be below expectations. We are not surprised as the new incoming CEO is setting more realistic expectations. Given that we think it is a complex project business, and turning it around is a multi-year effort, we remain short. Trustpilot on the long side was the second largest contributor as it continued its positive start to the year. As the numbers come through it is becoming clear to us that this is a secular winner irrespective of one’s view of AI. If anything, AI is driving more appetite for their service while also simultaneously helping to drive down content and assurance costs. The only significant loser was a short in a pulp & paper machinery company as the company reported better-than-expected order intake in Q1, and in-line earnings. Given that we think the company continues to flatter profits by provision releases, we remain short.
Markets are still very much in the ‘shock’ mode triggered by events in the Middle East. Secular winners (AI) and narrow breadth characterised the rally. Day to day market volatility at the index level was very much driven by daily Trump social media noise and we really are none the wiser about the likely outcome of this conflict. Oil is not moving out of the straits of Hormuz and this is a problem for everyone if it continues. However, given the plethora of exogenous shocks faced by companies in recent years (covid, Ukraine, Red Sea), they are proving to be more adept at finding solutions, while consumers seem to be holding up reasonably well. The markets are telling us that they expect this crisis to pass even though nobody quite knows how. We have taken the very simple decision to further increase sizing of our highest conviction names. We expect more noise around the war and AI, as well as factor rotations around the AI theme. We have the luxury of duration and we feel that we have come out of the worst of this crisis with an upgraded portfolio. As we exit reporting season, we can begin to spend more time with company management teams and understand more clearly how supply chains are holding up as well as customer demand patterns. This will help us increase conviction levels further.
Documents
Contact
Registered Office of the ICAV:
35 Shelbourne Road
4th Floor
Ballsbridge, Dublin
D04 A4E0
Ireland
Dealing Contact:
Tycho ICAV
Attention: TA Department
c/o Société Générale Securities Services
SGSS (Ireland) Limited
3rd Floor, IFSC House
IFSC
Dublin 1, Ireland
T: 00353 1 6750 300
F: 00353 1 6750 351
E: [email protected]
