Friday, August 4th, 2006
Driehaus switches from tech stocks to healthcare
Driehaus Capital Management funds were hit by the recent global sell off and have moved to a defensive stance, according to the fund manager’s latest domestic and international market commentary.
Driehaus, which operates aggressive growth funds, said cash in its US portfolios had “built up to higher than usual levels”.
In response to shaky markets it switched out of technology, financials and communications/media.
Apart from moving to cash, some of the funds have been invested in defensive sectors such as health care, correctional facilities and natural gas pipelines.
The fund manager has increased diversification across sectors and individual positions “as a defensive measure.”
Driehaus Capital’s international funds were also hurt in the market downturn “yet our relatively balanced approach during the second quarter aided relative performance”, it said, adding it had been underweight energy and overweight media.
 “We kept technology weightings fairly neutral, and moved into pharmaceutical stocks of companies based in Japan, Canada and Australia that offered both compelling stories and a measure of defensive positioning,” Driehaus said.
Driehaus has now cut exposure to some emerging markets to seek safety in more established and less volatile markets.
 “During the quarter we trimmed exposure to the emerging markets by exiting our Turkish financial investments and our consumer related investments in Brazil,” it said. “Related proceeds were partially redeployed to the developed markets, including Singapore and Canada, while the remaining proceeds remained in cash at quarter end as we looked to identify other attractive and timely investments.”
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