Pyxis Capital has launched the Pyxis Natural Resources Fund, which will invest substantially all of its assets in the Ascendant Natural Resources Master Fund, managed by Ascendant Advisors.
The Pyxis Natural Resources Fund, through the Master Fund, invests in equities of natural resources companies and will seek long-term out performance of the S&P North American Natural Resource Sector Index. Unlike other natural resource funds, it will invest in sectors such as timber and agribusiness, which are not included in the traditional natural resource indices. Ascendant brings a unique process to security selection by combining a fundamental bottoms up value approach with a combination of earnings and price momentum to aid in the timing of buying and selling.
"Adding Ascendant’s strategy to our platform provides an attractive and timely asset class to our mutual fund offerings," says Joe Dougherty, President of Pyxis Capital. "Their unique approach may help investors and advisors diversify portfolios and potentially employ an inflation hedge via an increasingly important sector."
The Pyxis Natural Resources Fund will benefit from Ascendant’s deep experience with its investment committee members averaging over 25 years of experience. The firm’s unique investment philosophy and process, which will be utilized in the Pyxis Natural Resources Fund, has been in place since 1970.
"Inflation has been prevalent in our economy since the creation of the Federal Reserve, abandonment of the gold standard, and the ongoing quantitative easing that began in late 2008," says Todd Smurl (pictured), Portfolio Manager of Ascendant’s Natural Resources Master Fund. "Our current outlook calls for more of the same, and we view natural resources equities as an attractive hedge in this environment."
