Wassenaar – October 6, 2017 – The Juno Selection Fund ended the third quarter of 2017 with a +1.7% return. After a weaker second quarter, the climbing trend of the first quarter is now back on track. After the first nine months of 2017, the Juno Selection Fund shows a +10.8% return. The Euromoney Smaller Europe Index increased by +4.1% during this quarter and has returned +15.4% to date in 2017.

The growth of the European economy is continuing steadily. Frans Jurgens, director and co-founder of Juno: “Only the weak dollar throws a spanner in the works. In the last months of the year we will see that reflected in the earnings of a number of our portfolio companies”. Lennart Smits, director and co-founder of Juno: “Our portfolio companies nevertheless continue to show stable earnings growth. We therefore expect that our target of 10-15% earnings growth for the portfolio as a whole will again be met this year.”

The fund’s portfolio currently consists of thirteen companies, Simcorp, Dialog, and Grenke being the largest positions. The fund is closed to new participants as per June 1st, 2017. The steep increase in assets under management, both in the fund as via direct accounts (starting at €20 million), has led the manager to this decision in order to safeguard the fund’s investment style. Click here for the press release in which this decision is explained in more detail. At this time, limited capacity remains in the fund for add-on investments from existing participants.

About Juno Investment Partners

Juno Investment Partners was established in 2007 as a fully independent fund manager and has an AIFM license (as referred to in Section 2:65 of the Wft), issued by the Dutch regulator AFM. Juno specializes in the selection of exceptional listed (family owned) companies in Europe. Companies that are able to achieve predictable and stable earnings growth year after year are considered for investment. The selection process focuses on the return on invested capital, a low debt ratio and free cash flows of a highly predictable nature. The analysts/portfolio managers compile a highly concentrated portfolio of approximately fifteen companies that they identify, analyze and visit regularly. Selected companies remain in the portfolio for a longer time period (usually more than five years). All analysts/portfolio managers have themselves invested in the Juno funds.

Juno offers three products: The Juno Selection Fund, which focuses on the selection of smaller and medium-sized listed companies, the Juno Continuation Fund for medium-sized companies and individual asset management using the same investment style, for larger clients through managed segregated accounts.

– The Juno Selection Fund was launched in 2008. This mutual fund invests in distinctive European small and medium-sized companies with an initial market capitalization of €250 million to €4 billion. In recent years, this investment style has resulted in above average investment returns for participants in the Juno Selection Fund. This fund has been hard closed for further (follow on) subscriptions since 2018.

– The same investment strategy is applied in the Juno Continuation Fund, which was launched on February 1, 2020. This fund focuses on unique, medium-sized European companies with a market value between €4 billion and €20 billion at the time of initial purchase. As is the case with the Selection Fund, the Continuation Fund also has a strong preference for investments in businesses that are family owned, or companies in which a family or management itself is also a shareholder.