Investor Summary
Fund Strategy
FUND PERFORMANCE AS OF 31st December 2025
| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 29.6% | 6.8% | - |
| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 29.6% | 6.8% | - |
HMC Capital Partners Fund I returned -9.2% net in Q4 2025, underperforming due to sector rotation favoring Resources stocks outside their mandate. Despite near-term weakness, the Fund has delivered 23.5% annualized returns since inception, outperforming the ASX 300 by 12.6% annually. The Fund maintains an active value creation approach, engaging directly with portfolio companies to unlock trapped value through strategic initiatives. Key holdings include Australian real estate companies Lendlease, Lifestyle Communities, and Ingenia Communities, which benefit from demographic tailwinds and are executing capital recycling strategies. The Fund added to its Lifestyle Communities position during quarter weakness, demonstrating opportunistic deployment. With Australian markets trading at elevated 18x forward earnings and interest rate uncertainty rising, the Fund maintains a $140m cash balance for flexibility. Management expects continued volatility into 2026 but sees meaningful upside across portfolio companies through ongoing strategic execution and catalyst realization.
The Fund actively engages with Australian portfolio companies to unlock trapped value through improved management, simplified structures, and better capital allocation, while maintaining significant cash reserves to capitalize on market volatility and deploy into high conviction opportunities.
The Fund expects market conditions into early 2026 to remain volatile and dominated by monetary policy decisions. Despite elevated valuations leaving little margin for error, the Fund continues to see meaningful upside to portfolio companies and remains focused on unlocking value through active engagement. The Fund is well positioned with significant cash balance to take advantage of further volatility.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14 2026 | 2025 Q4 | BBN.AX, GNC.AX, INA.AX, LIC.AX, LLC.AX | active management, Australia, capital recycling, demographics, real estate, value creation |
LLC AU BBN AU LIC AU INA AU GNC AU |
Fund holds significant positions in Australian real estate companies including Lendlease, Lifestyle Communities, and Ingenia Communities. These companies are executing simplification strategies, capital recycling, and benefiting from structural tailwinds including aging population and housing undersupply. The fund sees meaningful upside through improved capital allocation and strategic execution. Fund actively engages with portfolio companies to unlock trapped value through improved management, simplified structures, and better capital allocation. The fund has had tangible impact on strategic direction of several portfolio companies and continues to see scope for growth and value creation within current holdings. Multiple portfolio companies benefit from structural tailwinds driven by Australia's aging population and baby boomer downsizing trends. This demographic shift supports demand for land lease communities and retirement-focused housing solutions, providing long-term growth drivers for Lifestyle Communities and Ingenia Communities. |
| Oct 8 2025 | 2025 Q3 | BBN AU, GNC AU, INA AU, LIC AU, LLC AU | alignment, Governance, longterm, operations, Privateequity | - | The letter highlights private market investing focused on long-duration capital, operational improvement, and aligned partnerships. HMC emphasizes value creation through governance, structuring, and patient ownership rather than financial engineering. Private investments remain compelling as public markets overlook complexity and time arbitrage. |
| May 21 2025 | 2025 Q1 | - | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
DemographicsMultiple portfolio companies benefit from structural tailwinds driven by Australia's aging population and baby boomer downsizing trends. This demographic shift supports demand for land lease communities and retirement-focused housing solutions, providing long-term growth drivers for Lifestyle Communities and Ingenia Communities. |
Aging Population Baby Boomers Downsizing Housing Demand Structural Tailwinds |
Real Estate |
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Value CreationFund actively engages with portfolio companies to unlock trapped value through improved management, simplified structures, and better capital allocation. The fund has had tangible impact on strategic direction of several portfolio companies and continues to see scope for growth and value creation within current holdings. |
Active Engagement Strategic Direction Simplification Capital Allocation Unlocking Value | |
| 2025 Q3 |
Private |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Victoria Hardie | LLC AU | Lendlease Group | Real Estate | Real Estate Development | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, Capitalrecycling, development, Gearing, Nta | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Victoria Hardie | BBN AU | Baby Bunting Group Limited | Consumer Discretionary | Specialty Retail | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Comps, Margins, Refurbishments, retail, turnaround | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Victoria Hardie | LIC AU | Lifestyle Communities Limited | Real Estate | Residential | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | deleveraging, Demographics, Housing, Retirement, settlements | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Victoria Hardie | INA AU | Ingenia Communities Group | Real Estate | Residential | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Demographics, growth, Housing, Landlease, settlements | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Victoria Hardie | GNC AU | GrainCorp Limited | Consumer Staples | Agricultural Products | Bear | New York Stock Exchange | agriculture, Cyclicality, Grains, Margins, Volumes | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| BBN.AX | Baby Bunting (ASX BBN: -17.4%) reaffirmed FY26 NPAT guidance ($17-20m) during the quarter as part of their AGM update. The business continues to execute well against the refreshed strategy announced in June 2024, maintaining positive trading momentum: Comparable sales (adjusted for refurbishment closures) up +5.6% YTD; Gross margin continued to improve to ~40.6%, up from 40.2% at the FY25 result; and First 3 Refurbished Store of the Future sites are delivering ~30% sales uplifts, well ahead of initial expectations. |
| GNC.AX | GrainCorp (ASX: GNC -17.6%, incl. div) was a negative contributor over the quarter following the release of FY25 results and a subsequent trading update in mid-December. The trading update highlighted continued margin pressure and a softer volume outlook for FY26 with management's preliminary estimate for FY26 receival volumes of 11.0–12.0mt. This represents a material decline from the 13.3mt received in FY25, despite continued strong crop conditions, with signs that low grain prices are leading domestic farmers to hold volumes from the market. We had previously reduced our holding in GrainCorp which mitigated the impact of the share price decline on the Fund's performance. |
| INA.AX | Ingenia Communities (ASX: INA -5.0%) affirmed solid FY26 momentum at its AGM, reiterating guidance for 10–15% EBIT growth and underlying EPS of 32.5–34.0 cents. With the Board and management refresh that we have supported during the period of our shareholding delivering, we continue to see a strong outlook supported by: Structural tailwinds from the ageing population, baby boomer downsizing and persistent housing undersupply; Accelerating land lease development activity, with new community commencements (7 planned for FY26) supporting a targeted 5-year settlements CAGR of 10–15%; and Operating leverage and improved efficiency driving development returns. |
| LIC.AX | Lifestyle Communities (ASX: LIC -12.0%) provided an update at their AGM, building on the steady start to FY26 reported in the Q1 trading update released in October. The business has now completed 93 settlements year-to-date, and the updated contract position (150 available for settlement) implies ~30 additional potential FY26 settlements versus the October update. We saw the price weakness during the quarter as an opportunity to add to our position, increasing our holding to 10.4%. |
| LLC.AX | Lendlease traded down over the quarter (ASX: LLC -5.5%), with interest rate dynamics continuing to weigh on rate-sensitive real estate stocks. Towards the end of the quarter, LLC announced progress on the $2bn of planned capital recycling during FY26 with a binding agreement exchanged for the ~$400m sell down of The Exchange TRX retail mall, a full divestment of LLC's 60% interest in the adjacent office tower in Malaysia and affirmation that the sale of their ~25% remaining stake in the Keyton retirement business is progressing with exclusive negotiations underway. Despite progress on execution across the simplification strategy, the stock has continued to drift and trades at a ~30% discount to NTA, implying limited value being attributed to the Group's core operating businesses. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Buys Data | |||||
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Sells Data | ||||||
| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No industry data available | |||