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EX-32.2 - EX-32.2 - Ceres Classic L.P.d858884dex322.htm
EX-32.1 - EX-32.1 - Ceres Classic L.P.d858884dex321.htm
EX-31.2 - EX-31.2 - Ceres Classic L.P.d858884dex312.htm
EX-31.1 - EX-31.1 - Ceres Classic L.P.d858884dex311.htm
EX-4.01 - EX-4.01 - Ceres Classic L.P.d858884dex401.htm

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(X) ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR

15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

OR (    ) TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR

15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                     to                     

Commission File Number: 000-25603

MANAGED FUTURES PREMIER GRAHAM L.P.

 

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware    13-4018068

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

  

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

c/o Ceres Managed Futures LLC

522 Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10036

 

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

 

(855) 672-4468

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class

   Trading Symbol(s)    Name of each exchange on which registered

N/A

   N/A    N/A

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Units of Limited Partnership Interest

(Title of Class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes                         No X

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

Yes                         No X

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes X                      No     

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

Yes X                      No     

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer     

  

Accelerated filer     

  

Non-accelerated filer X

 

Smaller reporting company     

  

 

Emerging growth company     

  


If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.     

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes                           No X

Limited Partnership Units with aggregate values of $81,440,226 of Class A and $0 of Class Z were outstanding and held by non-affiliates as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

As of February 29, 2020, 3,685,717.774 Limited Partnership Units of Class A were outstanding and 0.000 Limited Partnership Units of Class Z were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

[None]


PART I

Item 1. Business.

(a) General Development of Business. Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P. (“Premier Graham” or the “Partnership”) was formed on July 15, 1998 under the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act to engage primarily in the speculative trading of futures contracts, options on futures and forward contracts, and forward contracts on physical commodities and other commodity interests, including, but not limited to, foreign currencies, financial instruments, metals, energy, and agricultural products (collectively, “Futures Interests”). The Futures Interests that are traded by the Partnership are volatile and involve a high degree of risk. The General Partner (as defined below) may also determine to invest up to all of the Partnership’s assets in United States (“U.S.”) Treasury bills and/or money market mutual funds, including money market mutual funds managed by Morgan Stanley or its affiliates. The Partnership commenced trading operations on March 1, 1999.

Ceres Managed Futures LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, acts as the general partner (“Ceres” or the “General Partner”) and commodity pool operator of the Partnership. The General Partner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc. (“MSD Holdings”). MSD Holdings is ultimately owned by Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is a publicly held company whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Morgan Stanley is engaged in various financial services and other businesses. Prior to January 1, 2017, the General Partner was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Holdings LLC (“MSSBH”). Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC is doing business as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (“Morgan Stanley Wealth Management”). This entity currently serves as the placement agent to the Partnership (the “Placement Agent”). Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is a principal subsidiary of MSD Holdings.

Graham Capital Management, L.P. (“Graham” or the “Trading Advisor”) is the trading advisor to the Partnership and manages the assets of the Partnership pursuant to its K4D-15V Program, the Trading Advisor’s proprietary, trend-following trading program. A description of the trading activities and focus of the Trading Advisor is included under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

For the period January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019, the approximate average market sector distribution for the Partnership was as follows:

 

 

LOGO

 

1


During the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Partnership’s commodity broker was Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“MS&Co.”), a registered futures commission merchant. MS&Co. also acted as the counterparty on all trading of foreign currency forward contracts. MS&Co. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. The Partnership also deposited a portion of its cash in a non-trading bank account at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

The General Partner, on behalf of the Partnership, has entered into a management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trading Advisor. The Management Agreement provides that the Trading Advisor has sole discretion in determining the investments of the assets of the Partnership allocated to the Trading Advisor by the General Partner. Pursuant to the Management Agreement, the Partnership pays the Trading Advisor a flat-rate monthly fee. Effective February 1, 2019, the management fee payable by the Partnership to the Trading Advisor is equal to 1/12th of the 1.35% (1.35% annual rate) of the Partnership’s net assets as of the first day of each month. From April 1, 2014 to January 31, 2019, the management fee payable by the Partnership to the Trading Advisor was equal to 1/12th of 1.75% (1.75% annual rate) of the Partnership’s net assets as of the first day of each month.

In addition, the Partnership pays the Trading Advisor an annual incentive fee. Effective February 1, 2019, the Partnership pays Graham an incentive fee equal to 18% of trading profits experienced by the Partnership as of the end of such period. Prior to February 1, 2019, the Partnership paid Graham an incentive fee equal to 20% of trading profits experienced by the Partnership as of the end of each calendar month. Trading profits represent the amount by which profits from trading in Futures Interests exceed losses after ongoing placement agent fees, management and administrative and General Partner’s fees, as applicable, are deducted. When the Trading Advisor experiences losses with respect to net assets as of the end of a calendar year or month, as applicable, the Trading Advisor must recover such losses before the Trading Advisor is eligible for an incentive fee in the future. Cumulative trading losses are adjusted on a pro-rated basis for the amount of each month’s net redemptions.

As of November 1, 2018, the Partnership entered into an alternative investment placement agent agreement (the “Harbor Selling Agreement”), by and among the Partnership, the General Partner, Morgan Stanley Distribution Inc. (“MSDI”), and Harbor Investment Advisory, LLC, a Maryland limited liability company (“Harbor”), which supersedes and replaces the alternative investment selling agent agreement, dated January 19, 2018, between the Partnership, the General Partner and Harbor. Pursuant to the Harbor Selling Agreement, MSDI and Harbor have been appointed as a non-exclusive selling agent and sub-selling agent, respectively, of the Partnership for the purpose of finding eligible investors for units of limited partnership interest (“Unit(s)”) through offerings that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) thereof and Rule 506 of Regulation D promulgated thereunder and for Harbor to serve as an investment advisor to its customers investing in one or more of the partnerships party to the Harbor Selling Agreement; provided, that, included within such appointment, Harbor will provide certain services to certain holders of Units of the Partnership, who had acquired such Units prior to such holders becoming clients of Harbor.

The Harbor Selling Agreement continues in effect until September 30, 2020 unless terminated in certain circumstances as set forth in the Harbor Selling Agreement, including by any party on thirty days’ prior written notice, after which the General Partner or the Partnership may, in its sole discretion, renew the Harbor Selling Agreement for additional one year periods. Pursuant to the Harbor Selling Agreement, the Partnership will pay Harbor an ongoing placement agent fee equal to 1/12th of 2.0% (a 2.0% annual rate) of the net asset value per Unit for certain holders of Class A Units in the Partnership, as set forth in the Harbor Selling Agreement.

Units of the Partnership are currently being offered in three share classes in a private placement pursuant to Regulation D under the Securities Act. Depending on the aggregate amount invested in the Partnership, limited partners receive either Class A, D or Z Units in the Partnership (each, a “Class” or collectively, the “Classes”), although the General Partner may determine to offer Units to investors at its discretion.

 

Class of Units

  

Aggregate Investments

A

   Up to $4,999,999

D

   $5,000,000 and above

Z

   All

As of July 1, 2016, the General Partner began offering Class Z Units. All Units issued prior to June 30, 2016 were deemed Class A Units. The rights, liabilities, risks, and fees associated with investment in the Class A Units did not change. Class Z Units were first issued at $10 per Unit. Class Z Units are offered to limited partners who receive advisory services from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and certain employees of Morgan Stanley and/or its subsidiaries (and their family members). Each of Class A, D and Z Units of the Partnership have the same investment exposure and rights except for the amount of the ongoing placement agent fee charged to each Class of Units; however, Class Z Units are not subject to an ongoing placement agent fee.

 

2


The Partnership began the year at a net asset value per Class A Unit of $18.46 and increased 20.3% to $22.21 per Class A Unit and a net asset value per Class Z Unit of $7.53 and increased 22.7% to $9.24 per Class Z Unit on December 31, 2019. For a more detailed description of the Partnership’s business, see subparagraph (c).

The General Partner has delegated certain administrative functions to SS&C Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation, currently doing business as SS&C GlobeOp (the “Administrator”). Pursuant to a master services agreement, the Administrator furnishes certain administrative, accounting, regulatory reporting, tax and other services as agreed from time to time. In addition, the Administrator maintains certain books and records of the Partnership. The General Partner pays or reimburses the Partnership, from the administrative and General Partner’s fee it receives, the ordinary administrative expenses of the Partnership, including the expenses related to the engagement of the Administrator.

(b) Reserved.

(c) Narrative Description of Business. For financial information reporting purposes, the Partnership is deemed to engage in one industry segment, the speculative trading of Futures Interests. The relevant financial information is presented in “Part II. Item 6. Selected Financial Data.” and “Part II Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” The Partnership is in the business of speculative trading of Futures Interests pursuant to trading instructions provided by the Trading Advisor. See Item 1(a) above for a complete description of the Partnership’s business. The information requested in Section 101(c)(1)(i) through (xii) of Regulation S-K is not applicable to the Partnership. Additionally, the Partnership does not have any employees. The directors and officers of the General Partner are listed in “Part III Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.”

(d) Reserved.

(e) Available Information. The Partnership files an Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to these reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Partnership does not maintain an internet website; however the SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The Partnership’s SEC filings are available to the public from the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. The Partnership’s CIK number is 0001066656.

 

3


Item 1A. Risk Factors.

This section includes some of the principal risks that investors will face with an investment in the Partnership.

THE UNITS IN THE PARTNERSHIP ARE SPECULATIVE AND INVOLVE A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK. THEY ARE SUITABLE ONLY FOR PERSONS WHO CAN AFFORD TO LOSE THEIR ENTIRE INVESTMENT.

Risks Relating to the Partnership and the Offering of Units

Single-advisor funds lack the diversity of multi-advisor funds. The Partnership is managed by a single trading advisor. Therefore, the Partnership lacks the potential benefit of trading advisor diversification available in funds that are managed by more than one trading advisor.

You should not rely on past performance of the General Partner or Graham in deciding to purchase Units. The past investment performance of other entities managed by the General Partner and Graham is not necessarily indicative of the Partnership’s future results. No assurance can be given that the General Partner will succeed in meeting the investment objectives of the Partnership. You may lose all or substantially all of your investment in the Partnership.

The General Partner believes that past performance of Graham may be of interest to prospective investors, but encourages you to look at such information as an example of the objectives of the Partnership rather than as any indication that the Partnership’s objectives will, in fact, be achieved.

The Partnership incurs substantial charges. The Partnership must pay substantial charges, and must generate profits and interest income which exceed its fixed costs in order to avoid depletion of its assets. The Partnership is required to pay certain expenses and fees including monthly management fees to Graham regardless of its performance. In addition, the Partnership pays Graham an incentive fee of 18% of Trading Profits, if any.

Incentive fees may be paid by the Partnership even if the Partnership sustains trading losses. The Partnership pays Graham an incentive fee based upon the trading profits it generates. These trading profits include unrealized appreciation on open positions. Accordingly, it is possible that the Partnership will pay an incentive fee on trading profits that do not become realized. Also, Graham will retain all incentive fees paid to it, even if it incurs a subsequent loss after payment of an incentive fee. Because Graham receives an incentive fee based on the trading profits, Graham may have an incentive to make investments that are riskier than would be the case in the absence of such an incentive fee being paid to Graham based on trading profits.

Restricted investment liquidity in the Units. There is no secondary market for the Units, and you generally may not redeem your Units other than as of the last business day of each month. Your right to receive payment for a redemption of some or all of your Units is dependent upon (a) the Partnership having sufficient assets to pay its liabilities on the redemption date, and (b) the General Partner’s receipt of your request for redemption in such manner as determined by the General Partner no later than 3:00 P.M., New York City time, on the third business day before the end of the month, although the General Partner may accept requests for redemption at other times in its sole discretion. The General Partner will not permit a transfer, sale, pledge or assignment of Units unless it is satisfied that the transfer, sale, pledge or assignment would not be in violation of Delaware law or applicable federal, state, or foreign securities laws and notwithstanding any transfer, sale, pledge or assignment, the Partnership will continue to be classified as a partnership rather than as an association or publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). No transfer, sale, pledge or assignment of Units will be effective or recognized by the Partnership if the transfer, sale, pledge or assignment would result in the termination of the Partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Any attempt to transfer, sell, pledge or assign Units in violation of the Partnership Agreement will be ineffective.

General Partner redemptions. The General Partner is required to maintain a capital contribution at least equal to the greater of: (a) 1% of aggregate capital contributions to the Partnership (including the General Partner’s contribution) and (b) $25,000. The General Partner may otherwise redeem any portion of its investment in the Partnership at any time without notice to the limited partners. For any such redemption, the General Partner will redeem its Units at the end of the month in the same manner as any limited partner would follow to redeem Units. Additionally, the General Partner has the right to redeem Units it holds in the event redemptions for limited partners are suspended.

 

4


The Partnership’s structure has conflicts of interest.

 

   

The General Partner, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the Placement Agent, MSDI and MS&Co. are affiliates. As a result, the fees and other compensation received by these parties and other terms relating to the operation of the Partnership and the sale of Units have not been negotiated independently. The officers and directors of the General Partner are also employees of Morgan Stanley or one of its subsidiaries and may have a conflict of interest between their responsibility to the General Partner and the commodity pools it operates. Some of the compensation for such officers and directors of the General Partner may be based in part on the profitability of Morgan Stanley and its managed futures business operated by the General Partner.

 

   

MS&Co. can benefit from bid/ask spreads to the extent Graham executes over-the-counter (“OTC”) foreign exchange trades with MS&Co. and bid/ask spreads are charged.

 

   

Employees of the Placement Agent receive a portion of the ongoing placement agent fee paid by the Partnership or, for consulting clients, they receive the fees and expenses described in such consulting client’s consulting agreement. Therefore, these employees have a conflict of interest in making recommendations regarding the purchase or redemption of Units.

 

   

Graham, the General Partner, Morgan Stanley and its affiliates and subsidiaries may trade Futures Interests for their own accounts, and thereby compete with the Partnership for positions. Also, the other commodity pools managed by the General Partner and Graham may compete with the Partnership for Futures Interests. These conflicts can result in less favorable prices on the Partnership’s transactions. These pools may also pay lower fees, including lower commodity brokerage fees and/or commissions, than the Partnership pays. The records of any such trading will not be available for inspection by limited partners.

 

   

For excess cash which is not invested, MS&Co. and the General Partner retain any interest earned on cash in the Partnership’s account in excess of the rate specified in the Partnership’s Annual Report to Limited Partners for the year ended December 31, 2019. Depending on the current market interest rates, that could create an incentive for the General Partner to retain excess cash in cash instead of permitted investments.

 

   

The General Partner may purchase shares from money market mutual funds affiliated and/or unaffiliated with the General Partner.

No specific policies regarding conflicts of interest have been adopted by the General Partner, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, MSDI, the Partnership, or any of their affiliates, and investors will be dependent on the good faith of, and legal and fiduciary obligations imposed on, the parties involved with such conflicts to resolve them equitably.

An investment in Units may not diversify an overall portfolio. Because Futures Interests have historically performed independently of traditional investments in equities and bonds, the General Partner believes that managed futures funds like the Partnership can diversify a traditional portfolio of equities and bonds. However, the General Partner cannot assure you that the Partnership will perform with a significant degree of non- or low-correlation to your other investments in the future. You may lose your entire investment in the Partnership.

The Partnership is not a registered investment company. The Partnership is not required to register, and is not registered, as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Accordingly, investors will not have the protections afforded by the Investment Company Act (which, among other matters, requires investment companies to have a majority of disinterested directors and regulates the relationship between the trading advisor and the investment company).

Risks Related to Regulation of the Partnership and General Partner

The Federal Reserve board’s regulation of Morgan Stanley could affect the activities of the Partnership. As a bank holding company (“BHC”) that has elected financial holding company (“FHC”) status under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (“BHCA”), Morgan Stanley and its affiliates are subject to comprehensive, consolidated supervision and regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve”). Since the General Partner is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, the Federal Reserve will treat the Partnership as an affiliate of Morgan Stanley. As a result, the Partnership will be subject to the BHCA and the Federal Reserve’s implementing regulations and interpretations, which are subject to change.

 

5


A significant focus of the regulatory framework that applies to Morgan Stanley is to ensure that Morgan Stanley and its subsidiaries operate in a safe and sound manner, with sufficient capital, earnings and liquidity to allow Morgan Stanley to serve as a source of financial and managerial strength to Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A., and Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association (the “Banks”). These Banks must remain well capitalized and well managed if Morgan Stanley is to maintain its FHC status and continue to engage in the widest range of permissible financial activities. In addition, the general exercise by the Federal Reserve of its regulatory, supervisory and enforcement authority with respect to Morgan Stanley and certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act” or the “Act”) could result in the need for Morgan Stanley to change its business practices or the scope of its current lines of business, including certain limited divestitures. Although such changes could have an impact on and consequences for Morgan Stanley, the General Partner and the Partnership, any limited divestiture should not directly involve the Partnership.

The Units are not being offered by the Banks, and as such: (1) are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), (2) are not deposits or other obligations of the Banks, (3) are not guaranteed by the Banks, and (4) involve investment risks, including possible loss of principal.

Assets held in accounts at U.S. banks may not be fully insured. The assets of the Partnership that are deposited with commodity brokers or their affiliates may be placed in deposit accounts at U.S. banks. The FDIC insures deposits held at insured depository institutions for up to $250,000 (including principal and accrued interest) for each insurable capacity (e.g., individual accounts, joint accounts, corporate accounts, etc.), though deposits in separate branches of an insured institution are not separately insured. If the FDIC were to become receiver of insured U.S. bank holding deposit accounts that were established by a commodity broker or one of its affiliates, then it is uncertain whether the commodity broker, the affiliate involved, the Partnership, or the investor would be able to reclaim cash in the deposit accounts above $250,000.

Other federal agencies, including the SEC and the CFTC, regulate certain activities of the Partnership and General Partner. Regulatory changes other than banking regulations could adversely affect the Partnership by restricting its trading activities and/or increasing the costs or taxes to which the investors are subject. The Dodd-Frank Act, among other things, grants the CFTC and SEC broad rulemaking authority to implement various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, including comprehensive regulation of the OTC derivatives market and certain foreign exchange transactions. The implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act could adversely affect the Partnership by increasing transaction and/or regulatory compliance costs. In addition, greater regulatory scrutiny may increase the Partnership’s and the General Partner’s exposure to potential liabilities. Increased regulatory oversight can also impose administrative burdens on the General Partner, including, without limitation, responding to investigations and implementing new policies and procedures. As a result, the General Partner’s time, attention and resources may be diverted from portfolio management activities.

Other potentially adverse regulatory initiatives could develop suddenly and without notice.

The General Partner, the Partnership and its service providers and their respective operations (including the Advisors) are potentially vulnerable to cyber-security attacks or incidents. Like other business enterprises, the use of the internet and other electronic media and technology exposes the General Partner, the Partnership and its service providers, and their respective operations, to potential risks from cyber-security attacks or incidents (collectively, “cyber events”). Cyber events may include, for example, unauthorized access to systems, networks or devices, infection from computer viruses or other malicious software code, mishandling or misuse of information and attacks which shut down, disable, slow or otherwise disrupt operations, business processes or website access or functionality. In addition to intentional cyber events, unintentional cyber events can occur. Unintentional cyber events may include, for example, the inadvertent release of confidential information, the mishandling or misuse of information and/or technological limitations or hardware failures (in the markets or otherwise) that constrain the Partnership’s ability to gather, process and communicate information efficiently and securely, without interruption.

Any cyber event could adversely affect the Partnership’s business, financial condition or results of operations and cause the Partnership to incur financial loss and expense, as well as face exposure to regulatory penalties or legal claims, reputational damage and additional costs associated with corrective measures. A cyber-security breach could also jeopardize a limited partner’s personal, confidential, proprietary or other information processed and stored in, and transmitted through, the General Partner’s or a service provider’s computer systems.

 

6


A cyber event may cause the Partnership or its service providers to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption, lose operational capacity (such as, for example, the loss of the ability to process transactions, calculate the Partnership’s net asset value, or allow investors to transact business) and/or fail to comply with applicable privacy and other laws. Among other potentially harmful effects, cyber events also may result in theft, unauthorized monitoring and failures in the physical infrastructure or operating systems that support the Partnership or its service providers.

The nature of malicious cyber-attacks is becoming increasingly sophisticated and neither the General Partner nor the Partnership can control the cyber systems and cyber-security systems of the Trading Advisor or other third-party service providers.

The General Partner may determine to invest up to all of the Partnership’s assets in U.S. Treasury bills and/or money market mutual fund securities. The General Partner may determine to invest all or a portion of the Partnership’s assets in U.S. Treasury bills and/or money market mutual funds, including money market mutual funds managed by Morgan Stanley or its affiliates. The Partnership will retain all interest income earned on U.S. Treasury bills and money market mutual fund securities purchased.

In the event that the General Partner is required to liquidate U.S. Treasury bills before they mature, to meet redemption requests or otherwise, the Partnership may incur a loss on such U.S. Treasury bills and/or may be subject to additional fees or other costs. The General Partner will endeavor to maintain sufficient cash in the Partnership’s accounts in order to meet margin requirements and avoid early liquidation of U.S. Treasury bills.

Although a money market mutual fund currently seeks to preserve the value of each of its shares at $1.00 per share, it is possible to incur losses when investing in a money market mutual fund. An investment in a money market mutual fund is not insured or guaranteed by any government agency. A money market mutual fund may experience significant pressures from, among other things, shareholder redemptions, issuer credit downgrades and illiquid markets. There have been some money market mutual funds that have “broken the buck,” which means that, upon redemption, investors in those funds did not receive $1.00 per share for their investments in those funds. Recent rule amendments adopted by the SEC will require certain money market mutual funds to implement floating net asset values in the future that will not preserve the value of each of its shares at $1.00 per share. The implementation of these rule amendments may impact the Partnership’s use of these money market mutual funds for capital preservation purposes.

Allowing investments by benefit plan investors may result in adverse consequences under ERISA or the Code. It is the current intent of the General Partner to conduct its operations so that the assets of each class of equity interests in the Partnership should not be deemed to constitute the “plan assets” of Benefit Plan Investors. If, however, the Partnership were deemed to hold “plan assets” of Benefit Plan Investors: (i) ERISA’s fiduciary standards may apply to the Partnership and might materially affect the operations of the Partnership, and (ii) any transaction with the Partnership could be deemed a transaction with each benefit plan investor and may cause transactions into which the Partnership might enter in the ordinary course of business to constitute prohibited transactions under ERISA and/or § 4975 of the Code. In order to avoid having the assets of the Partnership treated as “plan assets,” the General Partner intends to restrict the acquisition and/or redemption of Units, and such restrictions could delay or preclude the ability to transfer or redeem Units, or cause Units to lose value. However, there can be no assurances that this strategy will be successful.

Risks Relating to Futures Interests Trading and the Futures Interests Markets

Futures Interests trading is speculative and volatile. The rapid fluctuations in the market prices of Futures Interests make an investment in the Partnership volatile. Volatility is caused by, among other things, changes in supply and demand relationships; weather; agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs; domestic and foreign political and economic events and policies; and changes in interest rates. If Graham incorrectly predicts the direction of prices in Futures Interests, large losses may occur. The Partnership’s performance will be volatile on a monthly and an annual basis. The Partnership could lose all or substantially all of its assets. The single-advisor feature of the Partnership may increase the return volatility relative to the performance of multi-advisor investment funds.

The Partnership’s Futures Interests trading is highly leveraged such that small changes in the price of the Partnership’s positions may result in substantial losses. Graham utilizes substantial leverage on behalf of the Partnership. Trading Futures Interests involves substantial leverage, which could result in immediate and substantial losses. Due to the low margin deposits normally required in trading Futures Interests (typically between 2% and 15% of the value of the contract purchased or sold), an extremely high degree of leverage is typical of a Futures Interests trading account. As a result, a relatively small price movement in Futures Interests may result in immediate and substantial losses to the investor. For example, if 10% of the face value of a contract is deposited as margin for that contract, a 10% decrease in the value of the contract would cause a total loss of the margin deposit. A decrease of more than 10% in the value of the contract would cause a loss greater than the amount of the margin deposit.

 

7


The leverage employed by Graham in its trading can vary substantially from month to month. The gross leverage, expressed as the underlying absolute value of the Partnership’s positions compared to the average net assets of the Partnership, is anticipated to range from two times the Partnership’s net assets to fifteen times the Partnership’s net assets. Under certain conditions, however, the Partnership’s gross leverage could exceed (or be less than) such range. The amount of margin required to be deposited with respect to an individual futures contract is determined by the exchange upon which the contract is traded and the commodity broker at which the position is held and may be changed at any time.

Options trading can be more volatile than futures trading, and purchasing and writing options could result in trading losses. The Partnership may trade options on futures. Although successful options trading requires many of the same skills as successful futures trading, the risks are different. Successful options trading requires a trader to assess accurately near-term market volatility because that volatility is immediately reflected in the price of outstanding options. Correct assessment of market volatility can therefore be of much greater significance in trading options than it is in many long-term futures strategies where volatility does not have as great an effect on the price of a futures contract. Specific market movements of the commodities or futures contracts underlying an option cannot accurately be predicted. The purchaser of an option may lose the entire premium paid for the option. The writer, or seller, of a put option collects a premium and risks losing the difference between the strike price and the market price of the underlying commodity or futures contract (less the premium received) if the option buyer exercises its put option, as well as any commissions and fees. The writer, or seller, of a call option has unlimited risk. A call option writer collects a premium and risks losing the difference between the price it would have to pay to obtain the underlying commodity or futures contract and the strike price (less the premium received) if the option buyer exercises its call option.

Market illiquidity may cause less favorable trade prices. Although Graham generally will purchase and sell actively traded contracts where last trade price information and quoted prices are readily available, the price at which a sale or purchase occurs may differ from the price expected because there may be a delay between receiving a quote and executing a trade, particularly in circumstances where a market has limited trading volume and prices are often quoted for relatively limited quantities. In addition, most U.S. futures exchanges have established “daily price fluctuation limits” which preclude the execution of trades at prices outside of the limit, and, from time to time, the CFTC or the exchanges may suspend trading in market disruption circumstances. In these cases it is possible that the Partnership could be required to maintain a losing position that it otherwise would execute and incur significant losses or be unable to establish a position and miss a profit opportunity.

Factors that can contribute to market illiquidity for exchange-traded contracts include:

 

   

exchange-imposed price fluctuation limits;

 

   

limits on the number of contracts speculative traders may hold in most commodity markets; and

 

   

market disruptions.

The General Partner expects that non-exchange traded contracts will be traded for commodity interests for which there is generally a liquid underlying market. Such markets, however, may experience periods of illiquidity and are also subject to market disruptions.

Since Graham already manages sizable assets in the commodity markets, it is possible that the Partnership may encounter illiquid situations. It is impossible to quantify the frequency or magnitude of these risks, however, especially because the conditions often occur unexpectedly.

Trading on foreign exchanges presents greater risks to the Partnership than trading on U.S. exchanges. The Partnership trades on exchanges located outside the United States. Trading on U.S. exchanges is subject to CFTC regulation and oversight, including, for example, minimum capital requirements for commodity brokers, segregation of customer funds, regulation of trading practices on the exchanges, prohibitions against trading ahead of customer orders, prohibitions against filling orders off exchanges, prescribed risk disclosure statements, testing and licensing of industry sales personnel and other industry professionals, and recordkeeping requirements, and other requirements and restrictions for the purpose of preventing price manipulation and other disruptions to market integrity, avoiding systemic risk, preventing fraud and promoting innovation, competition and financial integrity of transactions. Trading on foreign exchanges is not regulated by the CFTC or any other U.S. governmental agency or instrumentality and may be subject to regulations that are different from those to which U.S. exchange trading is subject, may provide less protection to investors than trading on U.S. exchanges, and may be less vigorously enforced than regulations in the U.S.

 

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Trading on foreign exchanges involves some risks that trading on U.S. exchanges does not, such as:

Lack of Investor Protection Regulation

The rights of the Partnership in the event of the insolvency or bankruptcy of a non-U.S. market, broker or bank are likely to differ from rights that the Partnership would have in the United States and these rights may be more limited than in the case of failures of U.S. markets, brokers or banks.

Possible Governmental Intervention

Generally, foreign brokers are not subject to the jurisdiction of the CFTC or any other U.S. regulator. In addition, the Partnership’s assets held outside of the United States to margin transactions on foreign exchanges are held in accordance with the client assets protection regime and the insolvency laws of the applicable jurisdiction. A foreign government might halt trading in a market and/or take possession of the Partnership’s assets maintained in its country in which case the assets may never be recovered. The General Partner might have little or no notice that such events were happening. In such circumstances, the General Partner may not be able to obtain the Partnership’s assets.

Relatively New Markets

Some foreign exchanges on which the Partnership is permitted to trade may be in developmental stages so that prior price histories may not be indicative of current price patterns.

Exchange-Rate Exposure

The Partnership is valued in U.S. dollars. Contracts on foreign exchanges are usually traded in the local currency. The Partnership’s assets held in connection with contracts priced and settled in a foreign currency may be held in a foreign depository in accounts denominated in a foreign currency. Changes in the value of the local currency relative to the U.S. dollar could cause losses to the Partnership even if the contract traded is profitable.

Risks Associated with Affiliates

The Partnership’s clearing broker may use an affiliate to carry and clear transactions on foreign exchanges. While the use of affiliates can provide certain benefits, it can also pose certain risks. In particular, if a clearing broker or an affiliated foreign broker were to fail, it is likely that all of its affiliated companies would fail or be placed in administration within a relatively brief period of time. Each of these companies would be liquidated in accordance with the bankruptcy laws of the local jurisdiction. Moreover, return of the Partnership’s assets held at affiliated foreign brokers would be delayed, perhaps for a significant period of time, and would be subject to additional administrative costs. If, on the other hand, a clearing broker had cleared its customers’ foreign futures and options transactions through unaffiliated foreign brokers, such broker likely would not have failed and the clearing broker’s bankruptcy trustee could have directed the foreign broker to liquidate all of the Partnership’s positions and return the balance to the trustee for distribution to the Partnership.

The percentage of the Partnership’s positions which are traded on foreign exchanges can vary significantly from month to month. The average percentage of the Partnership’s positions which are expected to be traded on foreign exchanges in any given month is anticipated to range from 40% to 60% of the Partnership’s positions, but could be greater or less than such expected range during any time period.

The unregulated nature of uncleared trades in the OTC markets creates counterparty risks that do not exist in futures trading on exchanges or in cleared swaps. Unlike futures contracts and cleared swaps, uncleared trades, such as forward contracts, some swaps and some OTC “spot” contracts, are entered into between private parties off an exchange or other trading platform and are not subject to clearing. As a result, the performance of those contracts is not guaranteed by an exchange or its clearinghouse and the Partnership is at risk with respect to the ability of the counterparty to perform on the contract, including the creditworthiness of the counterparty. Trading of foreign exchange spot contracts or foreign exchange forwards and foreign exchange swaps (as such terms are defined in the Dodd-Frank Act), and of uncleared swaps is not regulated or is subject to limited regulation; therefore, there are limited or no specific standards or regulatory supervision of trade pricing and other trading activities that occur in those markets. The Partnership trades such contracts with MS&Co. and is at risk with respect to the creditworthiness and trading practices of MS&Co. as the counterparty to the contracts. See “—Trading Swaps Creates Distinctive Risks” below.

 

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Forward foreign currency and spot contracts historically were not regulated when traded between certain “eligible contract participants” and are subject to credit risk. The Partnership may trade forward contracts in foreign currencies and may engage in spot commodity transactions (transactions in physical commodities). These contracts, unlike futures contracts and options on futures, historically were not regulated by the CFTC when traded between certain “eligible contract participants,” as defined in the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended. On July 21, 2010, the President signed into law major financial services reform legislation in the form of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act includes foreign currency forwards and foreign currency swaps (as such terms are defined in the Dodd-Frank Act) in the definition of “swap,” and therefore, contemplates that certain of these contracts may be exchange-traded, cleared by a clearinghouse and regulated by the CFTC. Currently, forward foreign currency contracts are regulated by the CFTC (although a limited category of forward foreign currency contracts have been excluded from regulation under the Dodd-Frank Act). Regulation could entail increased costs, and among other things, result in additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Furthermore, although the Dodd-Frank Act contemplates that certain forward foreign currency contracts may be exchange-traded and cleared by a clearinghouse, these transactions are not currently exchange-traded so that, generally, no clearinghouse or exchange stands ready to meet the obligations of the contract. Thus, the Partnership faces the risk that their counterparties may not perform their obligations. This risk may cause some or all of the Partnership’s gains, in fact, never to be realized.

The percentage of the Partnership’s positions that are expected to constitute foreign currency forwards and foreign currency swaps can vary substantially from month to month.

Trading swaps creates distinctive risks. Graham may trade in certain swaps. Unlike futures and options on futures contracts, most swap contracts currently are not traded on or cleared by an exchange or clearinghouse. The CFTC currently requires only a limited class of swap contracts (certain interest rate and credit default swaps) to be cleared by a clearinghouse and executed on an exchange or swap execution facility. Inter-affiliate swaps that meet certain criteria are exempt from the CFTC’s mandatory clearing and exchange trading requirements. In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC will in the future determine which other classes of swap contracts will be required to be cleared by a clearinghouse and executed on an exchange or swap execution facility. Until such time as these transactions are cleared, the Partnership will be subject to a greater risk of counterparty default on its swaps. Because swaps do not generally involve the delivery of underlying assets or principal, the amount payable upon default and early termination is usually calculated by reference to the current market value of the contract. Swap dealers and major swap participants require the Partnership to deposit initial margin and variation margin as collateral to support the Partnership’s obligation under the swap agreement but may not themselves provide collateral for the benefit of the Partnership (except to the extent required, beginning September 1, 2016, under the rules finalized by the CFTC and the prudential regulators as described below). If the counterparty to such a swap defaults, the Partnership would be a general unsecured creditor for any termination amounts owed by the counterparty to the Partnership as well as for any collateral deposits in excess of the amounts owed by the Partnership to the counterparty, which would likely result in losses to the Partnership.

There are no limitations on daily price movements in swaps. Speculative position limits are not currently applicable to swaps, but in the future may be applicable for swaps on certain commodities. In addition, participants in the swap markets are not required to make continuous markets in the swaps they trade, and determining a market value for calculation of termination amounts can lead to uncertain results.

Trading of swaps has been and will continue to be subject to substantial change under the Dodd-Frank Act and related regulatory action. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, many commodity swaps may be required to be cleared through central clearing parties and executed on exchanges or other organized trading platforms. Security-based swaps will be subject to similar requirements. The CFTC and the prudential regulators that oversee swap dealers finalized rules regarding margin for uncleared swaps that imposed certain requirements beginning September 1, 2016 that may adversely impact the manner in which such swaps are traded and/or settled or increase the costs of such trades. Uncleared swaps will generally be subject to initial and variation margin requirements which may require the Partnership to post collateral to swap dealers and collect collateral from swap dealers. Additional regulatory requirements will apply to all swaps, whether subject to mandatory clearing or not. These include collateral and capital requirements, reporting obligations, speculative position limits for certain swaps, and other regulatory requirements. Swaps which are not offered for clearing by a clearing house will continue to be traded bi-laterally. Such bi-lateral transactions will remain subject to many of the risks discussed in the preceding paragraphs.

Non-U.S. depositories are not subject to U.S. regulation. The Partnership’s assets held in these depositories are subject to the risk that events could occur which would hinder or prevent the availability of these funds for distribution to customers including the Partnership. Such events may include actions by the government of the jurisdiction in which the depository is located including expropriation, taxation, moratoria and political or diplomatic events.

Implementation of legislation is not complete. Rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act and similar legislation in other countries are not yet complete. The impact of future rules on transactions of the type undertaken by the Partnership is not certain.

 

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Changes in regulation of swaps could lead to increased costs. As the Dodd-Frank Act and related rules, as well as analogous legislation and regulations in other countries, are implemented and market infrastructure adapts to the changes, the cost of engaging in trading of swaps and other products could increase, reducing the profits from those trades.

Central clearing parties could fail. Central clearing parties are highly capitalized. Cleared transactions are supported by initial and variation margin. As a result, failure of a central clearing party is highly unlikely. If a central clearing party were to fail, however, the impact on the financial system in general and on the Partnership’s positions in particular is uncertain and could affect a large portion of the market.

Deregistration of the commodity pool operator or commodity trading advisor could disrupt operations. The General Partner is a registered commodity pool operator and Graham is registered with the CFTC as a commodity trading advisor. If the CFTC were to terminate, suspend, revoke or not renew the registration of the General Partner, the General Partner would withdraw as General Partner of the Partnership. The limited partners would then determine whether to select a replacement general partner or to dissolve the Partnership. If the CFTC were to terminate, suspend, revoke or not renew the registration of Graham, the General Partner would terminate the Management Agreement. The General Partner could reallocate the Partnership’s assets managed by Graham to new trading advisor(s) or terminate the Partnership. No action is currently pending or threatened against the General Partner or Graham.

The Partnership is subject to speculative position limits. U.S. futures exchanges have established speculative position limits (referred to as “position limits”) on the maximum net long or net short position, which any person or group of persons may hold or control in particular futures and options on futures. Most exchanges also limit the amount of fluctuation in commodity futures contract prices on a single trading day. Therefore, Graham may have to modify its trading instructions or reduce the size of its position in one or more futures or option contracts in order to avoid exceeding such position limits, which could adversely affect the profitability of the Partnership. The futures exchange may amend or adjust these position limits or the interpretation of how such limits are applied, adversely affecting the profitability of the Partnership. In addition, in October 2011, the CFTC adopted rules governing position limits on futures (and options on futures) on a number of agricultural, energy and metals commodities, as well as on swaps that perform a significant price discovery function with respect to those futures and options. In September 2012, the CFTC’s rules were vacated by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and remanded to the CFTC for further consideration. The CFTC proposed revised position limits rules late in 2013. The comment period for the rules closed in February 2014, and the CFTC subsequently reopened comment periods for comments about certain issues related to futures and options contracts on agricultural commodities only. The CFTC re-proposed revised position limits rules late in 2016, and the comment period for the rules closed in February 2017. It is possible that these rules may take effect in some form. If so, these rules could have an adverse effect on the Partnership’s trading.

The Partnership has credit risk to the commodity brokers. The Partnership has credit risk because the commodity brokers act as the futures commission merchants for futures transactions or the counterparties of OTC transactions, with respect to most of the Partnership’s assets. As such, in the event that the commodity brokers are unable to perform, the Partnership’s assets are at risk and, in such event, the Partnership may only recover a portion of its investment or nothing at all. Exchange-traded futures and futures- styled option contracts are fair-valued on a daily basis, with variations in value credited or charged to the Partnership’s account on a daily basis. The commodity brokers, as futures commission merchants for the Partnership’s exchange-traded contracts, are required, pursuant to CFTC regulations, to segregate from their own assets, and for the sole benefit of their commodity customers, all funds held by them with respect to exchange-traded futures and futures-styled option contracts, including an amount equal to the net unrealized gain on all open futures and futures-styled option contracts. Similar requirements apply with respect to funds held in connection with cleared swap contracts. In the event of a shortfall in segregated customer funds held by the futures commission merchant, the Partnership’s assets on account with the futures commission merchant may be at risk in the event of the futures commission merchant’s bankruptcy or insolvency, and in such event, the Partnership may only recover a portion of the available customer funds. If no property is available for distribution, the Partnership would not recover any of its assets. With respect to the Partnership’s OTC foreign exchange contracts and uncleared swaps with MS&Co. prior to the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions, there was no requirement to segregate funds held with respect to such contracts. The CFTC and the prudential regulators that oversee swap dealers finalized rules regarding margin for uncleared swaps that imposed certain requirements beginning September 1, 2016 that may adversely impact the manner in which such swaps are traded and/or settled or increase the costs of such trades. Uncleared swaps will generally be subject to initial and variation margin requirements which may require the Partnership to post collateral to swap dealers and collect collateral from swap dealers. Any initial margin that may be required to be posted by a swap dealer or the Partnership must be segregated and held by an independent third party custodian and cannot be rehypothecated. Variation margin is not required to be segregated and may be rehypothecated. There may also be costs and delays involved in negotiating the custodial arrangement and related contractual terms.

 

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Risks Relating to Graham

You should not rely on the past performance of Graham in deciding to purchase Units. Since the future performance of Graham is unpredictable, Graham’s past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

Reliance on Graham to trade successfully. Graham is responsible for making all Futures Interests trading decisions on behalf of the Partnership. The General Partner has no control over the specific trades Graham may make, leverage used, risks and/or concentrations assumed or whether Graham will act in accordance with the disclosure documents or descriptive materials furnished by them to the General Partner. The General Partner can provide no assurance that the trading program employed by Graham will be successful. Graham, in turn, is dependent upon the services of a limited number of persons to develop and refine their trading approaches and strategies and execute the trading transactions. The loss of the services of any of Graham’s principals or key employees, or the failure of those principals or key employees to function effectively as a team, may have an adverse effect on Graham’s ability to manage its trading activities successfully, or may cause Graham to cease operations entirely. This, in turn, could negatively affect the Partnership’s performance.

Market factors may adversely influence the trading program. Often, the most unprofitable market conditions for the Partnership are those in which prices “whipsaw,” that is, such price moves quickly upward (or downward), then reverses, then moves upward (or downward) again, then reverses again. In such conditions, Graham may establish positions based on incorrectly identifying both the brief upward or downward price movements as trends, whereas in fact no trends sufficient to generate profits develop.

Increasing the assets managed by Graham may adversely affect performance. The rates of return achieved by a trading advisor often diminish as the assets under its management increase. This can occur for many reasons, including the inability of the trading advisor to execute larger position sizes at desired prices and because of the need to adjust the trading advisor’s trading program to avoid exceeding speculative position limits. These are limits established by the CFTC and the exchanges on the number of speculative futures and option contracts in a commodity that one trader may own or control. Graham has not agreed to limit the amount of additional assets that it will manage.

The Partnership’s use of an increased rate of leverage could affect performance. The General Partner and Graham have agreed that Graham will trade the Partnership’s assets pursuant to its K4D-15V Program, which will employ greater leverage than certain of Graham’s other trading programs. This increased leverage could result in increased gain or loss and trading volatility, as compared to other accounts employing certain of Graham’s other trading programs.

Graham may terminate its advisory agreement. The Management Agreement with Graham automatically renews every year unless terminated by the General Partner or Graham. In the event the Management Agreement is not renewed, the General Partner may not be able to enter into an arrangement with Graham or another trading advisor on terms substantially similar to the Management Agreement.

Disadvantages of replacing or switching trading advisors. Graham is required to recoup previous trading losses before it can earn performance-based compensation. However, the General Partner may elect to replace Graham if it has a “loss carry-forward.” In that case, the Partnership would lose the “free ride” of any potential recoupment of the prior losses. In addition, the new trading advisor(s) would potentially earn performance-based compensation on the first dollars of investment profits. The effect of the replacement of, or the reallocation of assets away from, Graham therefore could be significant.

Partnership performance may be hindered by increased competition for positions. Assets in managed futures have grown from an estimated $300 million in 1980 to approximately $318.4 billion as of December 31, 2019 (source: BarclayHedge, Ltd., Fairfield, IA). This has resulted in increased trading competition. Since futures are traded in an auction-like market, the more competition there is for some contracts, the more difficult it may be for the Partnership to obtain the best prices.

You will not be aware of changes to the trading program. Because of the proprietary nature of Graham’s trading program, you generally will not be advised if adjustments are made to Graham’s trading program in order to accommodate additional assets under management or for any other reason.

You will not have access to the Partnership’s positions and must rely on the General Partner to monitor Graham. As a limited partner, you will not have access to the Partnership’s trade positions. Consequently, you will not know whether Graham is adhering to the Partnership’s trading policies and must rely on the ability of the General Partner to monitor trading and protect your investment.

 

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Taxation Risks

You may have tax liability attributable to your interest in the Partnership even if you have received no distributions and redeemed no Units and even if the Partnership generated a loss. If the Partnership has profit for a taxable year, the profit will be includible in your taxable income, whether or not cash or other property is actually distributed to you by the Partnership. The General Partner presently does not intend to make any distributions from the Partnership. Accordingly, it is anticipated that U.S. federal income taxes on your allocable share of the Partnership’s profits will exceed the amount of distributions to you, if any, for a taxable year, so that you must be prepared to fund any tax liability from redemptions of Units or other sources. In addition, the Partnership may have capital losses from trading activities that cannot be deducted against the Partnership’s ordinary income (e.g., interest income, periodic net swap payments) so that you may have to pay taxes on ordinary income even if the Partnership generates a net loss.

The Partnership’s tax returns could be audited. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) could audit the Partnership’s U.S. federal income tax returns. If an audit results in an adjustment to the Partnership’s tax return, limited partners in the Partnership could be required to file amended returns and pay additional tax. Pursuant to legislation effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018 legislation, audits of the Partnership generally will be conducted at the Partnership level and any adjustment that results in additional tax (including interest and penalties thereon) will be assessed and collected at the Partnership level in the current taxable year, with the current partners indirectly bearing such cost, unless the Partnership is eligible to and makes an election to issue adjusted K-1s to those partners that were partners in the taxable year subject to audit. Therefore, unless the Partnership elects otherwise, the Partnership may be directly responsible in the current taxable year for the income tax liability resulting from an audit adjustment that relates to a prior taxable year in which a current limited partner did not own an interest in the Partnership or in which the limited partner’s ownership percentage has since changed. Limited Partners should consult with their tax advisers regarding the potential implications of this new audit regime.

You will recognize short-term capital gain. Profits on futures contracts traded in regulated U.S. and some foreign exchanges, foreign currency contracts traded in the interbank market, and U.S. and some foreign exchange-traded options on commodities are generally taxed as short-term capital gain to the extent of 40% of gains with respect to Section 1256 contracts and at least 50% of the gain arising from a mixed straddle account and are currently taxed at a maximum marginal ordinary U.S. federal income tax rate of 37% for non-corporate taxpayers.

Limitations on deductions for fund expenses. Special rules apply to deductions of “investment advisory expenses,” by non-corporate taxpayers. Under tax legislation commonly known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” enacted on December 22, 2017 as Public Law 115-97, no deduction for such expenses, or for other miscellaneous itemized deductions, is permitted for tax years between 2018 and 2025.

For tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, deductions for such expenses are subject to certain limitations for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and are not allowed for alternative minimum tax purposes. The IRS could take the position that certain Partnership expenses are investment advisory expenses and thus subject Partnership investors to disallowance of, or limitations on, deductions of allocated Partnership expenses.

Prospective investors should discuss these issues with their personal tax advisors.

Tax laws are subject to change at any time. Tax laws and court and IRS interpretations thereof are subject to change at any time, possibly with retroactive effect. Prospective investors are urged to discuss scheduled and potential tax law changes with their own tax advisors.

Non-U.S. investors may face exchange rate risk and local tax consequences. Non-U.S. investors should note that Units are denominated in U.S. dollars and that changes in rates of exchange between currencies may cause the value of their investment to decrease or to increase. Non-U.S. investors should consult their own tax advisors concerning the applicable U.S. and foreign tax implications of this investment.

Non-U.S. investors have reporting responsibilities and the Partnership may need to withhold taxes. The Partnership is required to impose a withholding tax of 30% on income allocable to certain non-U.S. investors that is attributable to certain U.S. investments, unless such investors satisfy certain reporting requirements. A number of non-U.S. countries have negotiated intergovernmental agreements with the U.S. Department of the Treasury regarding the implementation of this reporting and withholding regime, with some agreements potentially providing for information exchange from the U.S. authorities to non-U.S. revenue authorities regarding the U.S. financial accounts of non-U.S. persons. An investor’s failure to document appropriately its compliance with the reporting rules may cause the investor to be subject to this U.S. withholding tax.

 

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The continuing spread of a new strain of coronavirus, which causes the viral disease known as COVID-19, may adversely affect our investments and operations.

Since its discovery in December 2019, a new strain of coronavirus, which causes the viral disease known as COVID-19, has spread from China to many other countries, including the United States. The outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary has declared a public health emergency in the United States in response to the outbreak.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in many countries is having and will likely continue to have an adverse impact on global commercial activity, which has contributed to significant volatility in financial markets. The global impact of the outbreak has been rapidly evolving, and as cases of the virus have been identified in additional countries, many countries have reacted by instituting quarantines and restrictions on travel. These actions are creating disruption in supply chains, and adversely impacting a number of industries, including but not limited to transportation, hospitality, and entertainment.

The impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. and world economies, and the extent of and effectiveness of any responses taken on a national and local level, is uncertain and could result in a world-wide economic downturn and disrupt financial markets that impact trading programs in unanticipated and unintended ways.

The rapid development of this situation precludes any prediction as to the ultimate adverse impact of the novel coronavirus. Nevertheless, the novel coronavirus presents material uncertainty and risk with respect to the Partnership’s investments and operations.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments. Not applicable.

Item 2. Properties.

The Partnership’s executive and administrative offices are located within the offices of the General Partner. The General Partner’s offices utilized by the Partnership are located at 522 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10036.

 

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Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

This section describes the major pending legal proceedings, other than ordinary routine litigation incidental to the business, to which MS&Co. or its subsidiaries is a party or to which any of their property is subject. There are no material legal proceedings pending against the Partnership or the General Partner.

On June 1, 2011, Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated converted from a Delaware corporation to a Delaware limited liability company. As a result of that conversion, Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated is now named Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“MS&Co.”).

MS&Co. is a wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, a Delaware holding company. Morgan Stanley files periodic reports with the SEC as required by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) which include current descriptions of material litigation and material proceedings and investigations, if any, by governmental and/or regulatory agencies or self-regulatory organizations concerning Morgan Stanley and its subsidiaries, including MS&Co. As a consolidated subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, MS&Co. does not file its own periodic reports with the SEC that contain descriptions of material litigation, proceedings and investigations. As a result, we refer you to the “Legal Proceedings” section of Morgan Stanley’s SEC 10-K filings for 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014. In addition, MS&Co. annually prepares an Audited, Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition (“Audited Financial Statement”) that is publicly available on Morgan Stanley’s website at www.morganstanley.com. We refer you to the Commitments, Guarantees and Contingencies – Legal section of MS&Co.’s 2018 Audited Financial Statement.

In addition to the matters described in those filings, in the normal course of business, each of Morgan Stanley and MS&Co. has been named, from time to time, as a defendant in various legal actions, including arbitrations, class actions, and other litigation, arising in connection with its activities as a global diversified financial services institution. Certain of the legal actions include claims for substantial compensatory and/or punitive damages or claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. Each of Morgan Stanley and MS&Co. is also involved, from time to time, in investigations and proceedings by governmental and/or regulatory agencies or self-regulatory organizations, certain of which may result in adverse judgments, fines or penalties. The number of these investigations and proceedings has increased in recent years with regard to many financial services institutions, including Morgan Stanley and MS&Co.

MS&Co. is a Delaware limited liability company with its main business office located at 1585 Broadway, New York, New York 10036. Among other registrations and memberships, MS&Co. is registered as a futures commission merchant and is a member of the National Futures Association.

During the preceding five years, the following administrative, civil, or criminal actions pending, on appeal or concluded against MS&Co. or any of its principals are material within the meaning of CFTC Rule 4.24(l)(2) or 4.34(k)(2):

Regulatory and Governmental Matters.

On February 25, 2015, MS&Co. reached an agreement in principle with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, Civil Division (collectively, the “Civil Division”) to pay $2.6 billion to resolve certain claims that the Civil Division indicated it intended to bring against MS&Co.. That settlement was finalized on February 10, 2016.

 

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In October 2014, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office (“ILAG”) sent a letter to MS&Co. alleging that MS&Co. knowingly made misrepresentations related to RMBS purchased by certain pension funds affiliated with the State of Illinois and demanding that MS&Co. pay ILAG approximately $88 million. MS&Co. and ILAG reached an agreement to resolve the matter on February 10, 2016.

On January 13, 2015, the New York Attorney General’s Office (“NYAG”), which is also a member of the RMBS Working Group, indicated that it intended to file a lawsuit related to approximately 30 subprime securitizations sponsored by MS&Co.. NYAG indicated that the lawsuit would allege that MS&Co. misrepresented or omitted material information related to the due diligence, underwriting and valuation of the loans in the securitizations and the properties securing them and indicated that its lawsuit would be brought under the Martin Act. MS&Co. and NYAG reached an agreement to resolve the matter on February 10, 2016.

On July 23, 2014, the SEC approved a settlement by MS&Co. and certain affiliates to resolve an investigation related to certain subprime RMBS transactions sponsored and underwritten by those entities in 2007. Pursuant to the settlement, MS&Co. and certain affiliates were charged with violating Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, agreed to pay disgorgement and penalties in an amount of $275 million and neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings.

On April 21, 2015, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated (CBOE) and the CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE) filed statements of charges against MS&Co. in connection with trading by one of MS&Co.’s former traders of EEM options contracts that allegedly disrupted the final settlement price of the November 2012 VXEM futures. CBOE alleged that MS&Co. violated CBOE Rules 4.1, 4.2 and 4.7, Sections 9(a) and 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. CFE alleged that MS&Co. violated CFE Rules 608, 609 and 620. The matters were resolved on July 12, 2016 and June 28, 2016, respectively, without any findings of fraud. Pursuant to the settlements, MS&Co. was required to pay a $750,000 penalty to the CBOE (for which MS&Co. and an individual were jointly and severally liable) and a $400,000 penalty to the CFE (for which MS&Co. and an individual were jointly and severally liable) and $152,664 in disgorgement.

On June 18, 2015, MS&Co. entered into a settlement with the SEC and paid a fine of $500,000 as part of the MCDC Initiative to resolve allegations that MS&Co. failed to form a reasonable basis through adequate due diligence for believing the truthfulness of the assertions by issuers and/or obligors regarding their compliance with previous continuing disclosure undertakings pursuant to Rule 15c2-12 in connection with offerings in which MS&Co. acted as senior or sole underwriter.

On August 6, 2015, MS&Co. consented to and became the subject of an order by the CFTC to resolve allegations that MS&Co. violated CFTC Regulation 22.9(a) by failing to hold sufficient US Dollars in cleared swap segregated accounts in the United States to meet all US Dollar obligations to cleared swaps customers. Specifically, the CFTC found that while MS&Co. at all times held sufficient funds in segregation to cover its obligations to its customers, on certain days during 2013 and 2014, it held currencies, such as euros, instead of US dollars, to meet its US dollar obligations. In addition, the CFTC found that MS&Co. violated CFTC Regulation 166.3 by failing to have in place adequate procedures to ensure that it complied with CFTC Regulation 22.9(a). Without admitting or denying the findings or conclusions and without adjudication of any issue of law or fact, MS&Co. accepted and consented to the entry of findings, the imposition

 

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of a cease and desist order, a civil monetary penalty of $300,000, and undertakings related to public statements, cooperation, and payment of the monetary penalty.

On December 20, 2016, MS&Co. consented to and became the subject of an order by the SEC in connection with allegations that MS&Co. willfully violated Sections 15(c)(3) and 17(a)(1) of the Exchange Act and Rules 15c3-3(e), 17a-5(a), and 17a-5(d) thereunder, by inaccurately calculating its Reserve Account requirement under Rule 15c3-3 by including margin loans to an affiliate in its calculations, which resulted in making inaccurate records and submitting inaccurate reports to the SEC. Without admitting or denying the underlying allegations and without adjudication of any issue of law or fact, MS&Co. consented to a cease and desist order, a censure, and a civil monetary penalty of $7,500,000.

On September 28, 2017, the CFTC issued an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against MS&Co. regarding violations of CFTC Rule 166.3 by failing to diligently supervise the reconciliation of exchange and clearing fees with the amounts it ultimately charged customers for certain transactions on multiple exchanges. The order and settlement required MS&Co.. to pay a $500,000 penalty and cease and desist from violating CFTC Rule 166.3.

On November 2, 2017, the CFTC issued an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against MS&Co. for non-compliance with applicable rules governing Part 17 Large Trader reports to the CFTC. The order requires MS&Co. to pay a $350,000 penalty and cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.

Civil Litigation

On July 15, 2010, China Development Industrial Bank (“CDIB”) filed a complaint against MS&Co., styled China Development Industrial Bank v. Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated et al., which is pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County (“Supreme Court of NY”). The complaint relates to a $275 million credit default swap referencing the super senior portion of the STACK 2006-1 CDO. The complaint asserts claims for common law fraud, fraudulent inducement and fraudulent concealment and alleges that MS&Co. misrepresented the risks of the STACK 2006-1 CDO to CDIB, and that MS&Co. knew that the assets backing the CDO were of poor quality when it entered into the credit default swaps with CDIB. The complaint seeks compensatory damages related to the approximately $228 million that CDIB alleges it has already lost under the CDS, rescission of CDIB’s obligation to pay an additional $12 million, punitive damages, equitable relief, fees and costs. On February 28, 2011, the court denied MS&Co.’s motion to dismiss the complaint. On June 27, 2018, MS&Co. filed a motion for summary judgment and spoliation sanctions against CDIB. On December 21, 2018, the court denied MS&Co.’s motion for summary judgment and granted in part MS&Co.’s motion for sanctions relating to spoliation of evidence. On January 18, 2019, CDIB filed a motion to clarify and resettle the portion of the court’s December 21, 2018 order granting spoliation sanctions. On January 24, 2019, CDIB filed a notice of appeal from the court’s December 21, 2018 order, and on January 25, 2019, MS&Co. filed a notice of appeal from the same order. On March 7, 2019, the court denied the relief that CDIB sought in a motion to clarify and resettle the portion of the court’s December 21, 2018 order granting spoliation sanctions. On December 5, 2019, the Appellate Division, First Department (“First Department”) heard the parties’ cross-appeals. Based on currently available information, MS&Co. believes it could incur a loss in this action of up to approximately $240 million plus pre- and post-judgment interest, fees and costs.

 

17


On October 15, 2010, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago filed a complaint against MS&Co. and other defendants in the Circuit Court of the State of Illinois, styled Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago v. Bank of America Funding Corporation et al. A corrected amended complaint was filed on April 8, 2011, which alleges that defendants made untrue statements and material omissions in the sale to plaintiff of a number of mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans and asserts claims under Illinois law. The total amount of certificates allegedly sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. at issue in the action was approximately $203 million. The complaint seeks, among other things, to rescind the plaintiff’s purchase of such certificates. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the corrected amended complaint on May 27, 2011, which was denied on September 19, 2012. On December 13, 2013, the court entered an order dismissing all claims related to one of the securitizations at issue. On January 18, 2017, the court entered an order dismissing all claims related to an additional securitization at issue. After those dismissals, the remaining amount of certificates allegedly issued by MS&Co. or sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. was approximately $65 million. At December 25, 2019, the current unpaid balance of the mortgage pass-through certificates at issue in this action was approximately $35 million, and the certificates had not yet incurred actual losses. Based on currently available information, MS&Co. believes it could incur a loss in this action up to the difference between the $35 million unpaid balance of these certificates (plus any losses incurred) and their fair market value at the time of a judgment against MS&Co., plus pre- and post-judgment interest, fees and costs. MS&Co. may be entitled to be indemnified for some of these losses and to an offset for interest received by the plaintiff prior to a judgment.

On May 17, 2013, plaintiff in IKB International S.A. in Liquidation, et al. v. Morgan Stanley, et al. filed a complaint against MS&Co. and certain affiliates in the Supreme Court of NY. The complaint alleges that defendants made material misrepresentations and omissions in the sale to plaintiff of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly sponsored, underwritten and/or sold by MS&Co. to plaintiff was approximately $133 million. The complaint alleges causes of action against MS&Co. for common law fraud, fraudulent concealment, aiding and abetting fraud, and negligent misrepresentation, and seeks, among other things, compensatory and punitive damages. On October 29, 2014, the court granted in part and denied in part MS&Co.’s motion to dismiss. All claims regarding four certificates were dismissed. After these dismissals, the remaining amount of certificates allegedly issued by MS&Co. or sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. was approximately $116 million. On August 11, 2016, the First Department affirmed the trial court’s decision denying in part MS&Co.’s motion to dismiss the complaint. At December 25, 2019, the current unpaid balance of the mortgage pass-through certificates at issue in this action was approximately $22 million, and the certificates had incurred actual losses of $59 million. Based on currently available information, MS&Co. believes it could incur a loss in this action up to the difference between the $22 million unpaid balance of these certificates (plus any losses incurred) and their fair market value at the time of a judgment against MS&Co., or upon sale, plus pre- and post-judgment interest, fees and costs. MS&Co. may be entitled to be indemnified for some of these losses and to an offset for interest received by the plaintiff prior to a judgment.

In August of 2017, MS&Co. was named as a defendant in a purported antitrust class action in the United States District Court for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York styled Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System et al. v. Bank of America Corporation et al. Plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that MS&Co., together with a number of other financial institution defendants, violated U.S. antitrust laws and New York state law in connection with their alleged efforts to prevent the development of electronic exchange-based

 

18


platforms for securities lending. The class action complaint was filed on behalf of a purported class of borrowers and lenders who entered into stock loan transactions with the defendants. The class action complaint seeks, among other relief, certification of the class of plaintiffs and treble damages. On September 27, 2018, the court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the class action complaint.

Settled Civil Litigation

On December 23, 2009, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle filed a complaint against MS&Co. and another defendant in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, styled Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle v. Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., et al. The amended complaint, filed on September 28, 2010, alleges that defendants made untrue statements and material omissions in the sale to plaintiff of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. was approximately $233 million. The complaint raised claims under the Washington State Securities Act and sought, among other things, to rescind the plaintiff’s purchase of such certificates. On January 23, 2017, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation.

On March 15, 2010, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco filed a complaint against MS&Co. and other defendants in the Superior Court of the State of California styled Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco v. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. et al. An amended complaint, filed on June 10, 2010, alleged that defendants made untrue statements and material omissions in connection with the sale to plaintiff of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The amount of certificates allegedly sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. was approximately $276 million. The complaint raised claims under both the federal securities laws and California law and sought, among other things, to rescind the plaintiff’s purchase of such certificates. On December 21, 2016, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation.

On October 25, 2010, MS&Co., certain affiliates and Pinnacle Performance Limited, a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”), were named as defendants in a purported class action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”), styled Ge Dandong, et al. v. Pinnacle Performance Ltd., et al. On January 31, 2014, the plaintiffs in the action, which related to securities issued by the SPV in Singapore, filed a second amended complaint, which asserted common law claims of fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, fraudulent inducement, aiding and abetting fraudulent inducement, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. On July 17, 2014, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation, which received final court approval on July 2, 2015.

On July 18, 2011, the Western and Southern Life Insurance Company and certain affiliated companies filed a complaint against MS&Co. and other defendants in the Court of Common Pleas in Ohio, styled Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, et al. v. Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Inc., et al. An amended complaint was filed on April 2, 2012 and alleged that defendants made untrue statements and material omissions in the sale to plaintiffs of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The amount of the certificates allegedly sold to plaintiffs by MS&Co. was approximately $153 million. On June 8, 2015, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation.

 

19


On April 25, 2012, The Prudential Insurance Company of America and certain affiliates filed a complaint against MS&Co. and certain affiliates in the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey, styled The Prudential Insurance Company of America, et al. v. Morgan Stanley, et al. On October 16, 2012, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint. The amended complaint alleged that defendants made untrue statements and material omissions in connection with the sale to plaintiffs of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly sponsored, underwritten and/or sold by MS&Co. was approximately $1.073 billion. The amended complaint raised claims under the New Jersey Uniform Securities Law, as well as common law claims of negligent misrepresentation, fraud, fraudulent inducement, equitable fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, and violations of the New Jersey RICO statute, and included a claim for treble damages. On January 8, 2016, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation.

In re Morgan Stanley Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Litigation, which had been pending in the SDNY, was a putative class action involving allegations that, among other things, the registration statements and offering documents related to the offerings of certain mortgage pass-through certificates in 2006 and 2007 contained false and misleading information concerning the pools of residential loans that backed these securitizations. On December 18, 2014, the parties’ agreement to settle the litigation received final court approval, and on December 19, 2014, the court entered an order dismissing the action.

On November 4, 2011, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), as receiver for Franklin Bank S.S.B, filed two complaints against MS&Co. in the District Court of the State of Texas. Each was styled Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as Receiver for Franklin Bank, S.S.B v. Morgan Stanley & Company LLC F/K/A Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and alleged that MS&Co. made untrue statements and material omissions in connection with the sale to plaintiff of mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The amount of certificates allegedly underwritten and sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. in these cases was approximately $67 million and $35 million, respectively. On July 2, 2015, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation.

On February 14, 2013, Bank Hapoalim B.M. filed a complaint against MS&Co. and certain affiliates in the Supreme Court of NY, styled Bank Hapoalim B.M. v. Morgan Stanley et al. The complaint alleged that defendants made material misrepresentations and omissions in the sale to plaintiff of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly sponsored, underwritten and/or sold by MS&Co. to plaintiff was approximately $141 million. On July 28, 2015, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation, and on August 12, 2015, the plaintiff filed a stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice.

On September 23, 2013, the plaintiff in National Credit Union Administration Board v. Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., et al. filed a complaint against MS&Co. and certain affiliates in the SDNY. The complaint alleged that defendants made untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state material facts in the sale to the plaintiff of certain mortgage pass-through certificates issued by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly sponsored, underwritten and/or sold by MS&Co. to plaintiffs in the matter was approximately $417 million. The complaint alleged violations of federal and various state securities laws and sought, among other things, rescissionary and compensatory damages. On November 23, 2015, the parties reached an agreement to settle the matter.

 

20


On September 16, 2014, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office filed a civil lawsuit, styled Commonwealth of Virginia ex rel. Integra REC LLC v. Barclays Capital Inc., et al., against MS&Co. and several other defendants in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond related to RMBS. The lawsuit alleged that MS&Co. and the other defendants knowingly made misrepresentations and omissions related to the loans backing RMBS purchased by the Virginia Retirement System. The complaint asserted claims under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, as well as common law claims of actual and constructive fraud, and sought, among other things, treble damages and civil penalties. On January 6, 2016, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation. An order dismissing the action with prejudice was entered on January 28, 2016.

On April 20, 2011, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston filed a complaint against MS&Co. and other defendants in the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts styled Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston v. Ally Financial, Inc. F/K/A GMAC LLC et al. An amended complaint was filed on June 29, 2012 and alleged that defendants made untrue statements and material omissions in the sale to plaintiff of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly issued by MS&Co. or sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. was approximately $385 million. The amended complaint raised claims under the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act, the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and common law and sought, among other things, to rescind the plaintiff’s purchase of such certificates. On November 25, 2013, July 16, 2014, and May 19, 2015, respectively, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed its claims against MS&Co. with respect to three of the securitizations at issue. After these voluntary dismissals, the remaining amount of certificates allegedly issued by MS&Co. or sold to plaintiff by MS&Co. was approximately $332 million. On July 13, 2018, the parties reached an agreement in principle to settle the litigation.

On May 3, 2013, plaintiffs in Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank AG et al. v. Morgan Stanley et al. filed a complaint against MS&Co., certain affiliates, and other defendants in the Supreme Court of NY. The complaint alleged that defendants made material misrepresentations and omissions in the sale to plaintiffs of certain mortgage pass-through certificates backed by securitization trusts containing residential mortgage loans. The total amount of certificates allegedly sponsored, underwritten and/or sold by MS&Co. to plaintiff was approximately $634 million. The complaint alleged causes of action against MS&Co. for common law fraud, fraudulent concealment, aiding and abetting fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and rescission and sought, among other things, compensatory and punitive damages. On June 26, 2018, the parties entered into an agreement to settle the litigation.

On April 1, 2016, the California Attorney General’s Office filed an action against MS&Co. in California state court styled California v. Morgan Stanley, et al., on behalf of California investors, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California Teachers’ Retirement System. The complaint alleged that MS&Co. made misrepresentations and omissions regarding residential mortgage-backed securities and notes issued by the Cheyne SIV, and asserted violations of the California False Claims Act and other state laws and sought treble damages, civil penalties, disgorgement, and injunctive relief. On April 24, 2019, the parties reached an agreement to settle the litigation.

Beginning on March 25, 2019, MS&Co. was named as a defendant in a series of putative class action complaints filed in the Southern District of NY, the first of which was styled Alaska

 

21


Electrical Pension Fund v. BofA Secs., Inc., et al. Each complaint alleged a conspiracy to fix prices and restrain competition in the market for unsecured bonds issued by the following Government-Sponsored Enterprises: the Federal National Mortgage Associate; the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation; and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The purported class period for each suit is from January 1, 2012 to June 1, 2018. Each complaint raised a claim under Section 1 of the Sherman Act and sought, among other things, injunctive relief and treble compensatory damages. On May 23, 2019, plaintiffs filed a consolidated amended class action complaint styled In re GSE Bonds Antitrust Litigation, with a purported class period from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2016. On June 13, 2019, the defendants filed a joint motion to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint. On August 29, 2019, the court denied MS&Co.’s motion to dismiss. On December 15, 2019, MS&Co. and certain other defendants entered into a stipulation of settlement to resolve the action as against each of them in its entirety. On February 3, 2020, the court granted preliminary approval of that settlement.

Additional lawsuits containing claims similar to those described above may be filed in the future. In the course of its business, MS&Co., as a major futures commission merchant, is party to various civil actions, claims and routine regulatory investigations and proceedings that the General Partner believes do not have a material effect on the business of MS&Co. MS&Co. may establish reserves from time to time in connections with such actions.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures. Not applicable.

 

22


PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

 

  (a)

Market Information. The Partnership has issued no stock. There is no public market for the Units.

 

  (b)

Holders. The number of holders of Units as of February 29, 2020 was 1,942 for Class A Units and 1 for Class Z Units.

 

  (c)

Distributions. No distributions have been made by the Partnership since it commenced trading operations on March 1, 1999. Ceres has sole discretion to decide what distributions, if any, shall be made to investors in the Partnership. Ceres does not intend to declare distributions in the foreseeable future.

 

  (d)

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans. None.

 

  (e)

Performance Graph. Not applicable.

 

  (f)

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities. The Registrant’s Units of limited partnership interest are being offered in a private placement pursuant to Regulation D under the Securities Act, and are being sold only to persons and entities who are accredited investors as the term is defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D. In determining the applicability of the exemption, the General Partner relied on the fact that the Units were purchased by accredited investors.

The aggregate proceeds of unregistered securities sold to the limited partners through December 31, 2019 was $148,324,838. The Partnership received $627,786 in consideration from the sale of Units to the General Partner.

Proceeds of net offering were used for the trading of Futures Interests.

 

  (g)

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers.

The following chart sets forth the purchases of Units by the Partnership.

 

Period  

Class A

(a) Total Number
of Units Purchased*

 

Class A

(b) Average

Price Paid per

Unit**

 

(c) Total Number

of Units

Purchased as Part

of Publicly

Announced

Plans or Programs

 

(d) Maximum Number

(or Approximate

Dollar Value) of

Units that May

Yet Be Purchased

Under the

Plans or Programs

October 1, 2019 - October 31, 2019

  28,674.707     $                     22.57     N/A   N/A

November 1, 2019 - November 30, 2019

  60,353.735     $                     23.39     N/A   N/A

December 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019

  21,446.777     $                     22.21     N/A   N/A
    110,475.219     $                     22.95          

 

*

Generally, limited partners are permitted to redeem their Units as of the end of each month on three business days’ notice to the General Partner. Under certain circumstances, the General Partner can compel redemption, although to date the General Partner has not exercised this right. Purchases of Units by the Partnership reflected in the chart above were made in the ordinary course of the Partnership’s business in connection with effecting redemptions for limited partners.

 

**

Redemptions of Units are effected as of the last day of each month at the net asset value per Unit as of that day.

 

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Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

Interest income, total expenses, total trading results, net income (loss) and increase (decrease) in net asset value per Unit for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 and net asset value per Unit and total assets as of December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 were as follows:

 

     2019    2018    2017   2016   2015

 

Interest income

     $ 1,243,920         $ 1,376,893         $ 767,410       $ 355,476       $ 4,352  

Total expenses

     (4,504,154)        (6,107,382)        (6,662,870     (9,388,531     (11,078,220

Total trading results

     18,644,955         (17,812,588)        10,699,637       (19,389,463     7,533,170  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income (loss)

     $   15,384,721         $   (22,543,077)        $ 4,804,177       $ (28,422,518     $ (3,540,698
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Increase (decrease) in net asset value per Unit:

            

Class A

     $ 3.75         $ (4.68)        $ 1.08       $ (4.44     $ (0.60
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Z

     $ 1.71         $ (1.72)        $ 0.60       $ (1.35     $ -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net asset value per Unit:

            

Class A

     $ 22.21         $ 18.46         $ 23.14       $ 22.06       $ 26.50  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Z

     $ 9.24         $ 7.53         $ 9.25       $ 8.65       $ -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total assets

     $ 86,681,482         $ 85,000,793         $  115,980,616       $  133,770,630       $ 180,370,186  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Liquidity. The Partnership deposits its assets with MS&Co. as its clearing commodity broker in separate Futures Interests trading accounts established for the Trading Advisor. Such assets are used as margin to engage in trading and may be used as margin solely for the Partnership’s trading. The assets are held either in non-interest bearing bank accounts or in securities and instruments permitted by the CFTC for investment of customer segregated or secured funds. Since the Partnership’s sole purpose is to trade in futures, forwards and options, it is expected that the Partnership will continue to own such liquid assets for margin purposes.

The Partnership’s investment in Futures Interests and U.S. Treasury bills may, from time to time, be illiquid. Most U.S. futures exchanges limit fluctuations in prices during a single day by regulations referred to as “daily price fluctuation limits” or “daily limits.” Trades may not be executed at prices beyond the daily limit. If the price for a particular futures or option contract has increased or decreased by an amount equal to the daily limit, positions in that futures or option contract can neither be taken nor liquidated unless traders are willing to effect trades at or within the limit. Futures prices have occasionally moved the daily limit for several consecutive days with little or no trading. These market conditions could prevent the Partnership from promptly liquidating its futures or option contracts and result in restrictions on redemptions.

There is no limitation on daily price movements in trading forward contracts on foreign currencies. The markets for some world currencies have low trading volume and are illiquid, which may prevent the Partnership from trading in potentially profitable markets or prevent the Partnership from promptly liquidating unfavorable positions in such markets, subjecting it to substantial losses. Either of these market conditions could result in restrictions on redemptions. For the periods covered by this report, illiquidity has not materially affected the Partnership’s assets. There are no known material trends, demands, commitments, events, or uncertainties at the present time that are reasonably likely to result in the Partnership’s liquidity increasing or decreasing in any material way.

Capital Resources. The Partnership does not have, nor does it expect to have, any capital assets. The Partnership’s only assets are its (i) equity in trading account, consisting of restricted and unrestricted cash, net unrealized appreciation on open futures contracts, net unrealized appreciation on open forward contracts and investment in U.S. Treasury bills, at fair value, as applicable, (ii) cash at bank and (iii) interest receivable. Redemptions, exchanges and sales of Units in the future will affect the amount of funds available for investments in Futures Interests and U.S. Treasury bills in subsequent periods. It is not possible to estimate the amount, and therefore the impact, of future inflows and outflows of Units.

There are no known material trends, favorable or unfavorable, that would affect, nor any expected material changes to, the Partnership’s capital resource arrangements at the present time.

 

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Results of Operations

General. The Partnership’s results depend on the Trading Advisor and the ability of the Trading Advisor’s trading program to take advantage of price movements in the futures, forwards and options markets.

The K4D quantitative investment program has its origin in Graham’s legacy trend-following trading systems, dating as far back as 1995. Graham’s trend systems are designed to participate selectively in potential profit opportunities that can occur during periods of price trends in a diverse number of U.S. and international markets. The trend systems establish positions in markets where the price action of a particular market signals the computerized systems used by Graham that a potential trend in prices is occurring. The trend systems also employ proprietary risk management and trade filter strategies that seek to benefit from sustained price trends while reducing risk and volatility exposure. Each K4D program trades the same quantitative models in the same proportion, and differs only with respect to the annual volatility range targeted (with the K4D-10V Program targeting an annual volatility range of 8% to 12%; the K4D-15V Program targeting an annual volatility range of 12% to 18%; and the K4D-20V Program targeting an annual volatility range of 16% to 24%).

The following presents a summary of the Partnership’s operations for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, and a general discussion of its trading activities during each period. It is important to note, however, that the Trading Advisor trades in various markets at different times and that prior activity in a particular market does not mean that such market will be actively traded by the Trading Advisor or will be profitable in the future. Consequently, the results of operations of the Partnership are difficult to discuss other than in the context of the Trading Advisor’s trading activities on behalf of the Partnership during the period in question. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The Partnership’s results of operations set forth in the financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), which require the use of certain accounting policies that affect the amounts reported in these financial statements, including the following: the contracts the Partnership trade are accounted for on a trade-date basis and marked to market on a daily basis. The difference between their original contract value and market value is recorded in the Statements of Income and Expenses as “Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on open contracts” and recorded as “Net realized gains (losses) on closed contracts” when open positions are closed out. The sum of these amounts constitutes the Partnership’s trading results. The market value of a futures contract is the settlement price on the exchange on which that futures contract is traded on a particular day. The value of a foreign currency forward contract is based on the spot rate as of approximately 3:00 P.M. (E.T.), the close of the business day. Interest income, as well as management fees, administrative and General Partner’s fees and ongoing placement agent fees of the Partnership are recorded on an accrual basis.

The General Partner believes that, based on the nature of the operations of the Partnership, no assumptions relating to the application of critical accounting policies other than those presently used could reasonably affect reported amounts.

No forecast can be made as to the level of redemptions in any given period. A limited partner may require the Partnership to redeem its Units at the net asset value per Unit as of the end of any month on three business days’ notice to the General Partner. There is no fee charged to limited partners in connection with redemptions. Redemptions are generally funded out of the Partnership’s cash holdings. For the year ended December 31, 2019, 606,098.601 limited partner Units of Class A were redeemed totaling $12,313,201 and 37,107.123 General Partner Units of Class Z were redeemed totaling $320,000. For the year ended December 31, 2018, 901,418.885 limited partner Units of Class A were redeemed totaling $18,848,006 and 15,432.099 General Partner Units of Class Z were redeemed totaling $150,000. For the year ended December 31, 2017, 1,046,173.203 limited partner Units of Class A were redeemed totaling $22,615,682 and 36,267.329 General Partner Units of Class Z were redeemed totaling $300,000.

The Partnership continues to offer Units for each Class at their net asset value per Unit as of the end of each month. For the year ended December 31, 2019, there were subscriptions of 3,584.803 limited partner Units of Class A totaling $75,624. For the year ended December 31, 2018, there were subscriptions of 425,348.852 limited partner Units of Class A totaling $9,800,783 and 12,560.802 General Partner Units of Class Z totaling $116,187. For the year ended December 31, 2017, there were subscriptions of 42,440.978 limited partner Units of Class A totaling $918,536.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the net asset value per Unit for Class A increased 20.3% from $18.46 to $22.21. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the net asset value per Unit for Class Z increased 22.7% from $7.53 to $9.24. For the year ended December 31, 2018, the net asset value per Unit for Class A decreased 20.2% from $23.14 to $18.46. For the year ended December 31, 2018, the net asset value per Unit for Class Z decreased 18.6% from $9.25 to $7.53. For the year ended December 31, 2017, the net asset value per Unit for Class A increased 4.9% from $22.06 to $23.14. For the year ended December 31, 2017, the net asset value per Unit for Class Z increased 6.9% from $8.65 to $9.25.

 

25


The Partnership experienced a net trading gain of $18,644,955 before fees and expenses for the year ended December 31, 2019. Gains were primarily attributable to the Partnership’s trading of Futures Interests in the equity and interest rates sectors and were partially offset by losses in the commodity and currencies sectors. The net trading gain (or loss) realized from the Partnership is disclosed under “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

During the first quarter of 2019, the most notable gains were achieved during March from long positions in European fixed income futures as prices rallied amid continued uncertainty surrounding the UK’s exit from the European Union. Additional gains in the global fixed income sector were experienced during January from long futures positions in German bonds. Gains within the global stock index sector were recorded throughout the first quarter as investor demand for risk assets buoyed stock prices. In the agricultural markets, gains were recorded during February from short positions in wheat futures and during March from short positions in corn and coffee futures as prices declined amid growing global commodity supply gluts. The Partnership’s overall trading gains for the first quarter were partially offset by trading losses incurred during January and February within the energy sector from short positions in crude oil futures as global oil prices moved higher. Within the metals sector, losses were incurred during January from short positions in copper and aluminum futures as industrial metals prices rebounded on signs of a potential resolution to the U.S. versus China trade battles.

During the second quarter of 2019, the most notable gains were recorded during May and June from long positions in non-U.S. and U.S. fixed income futures as prices rose amid safe-haven demand and increased speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Within the global stock indices, gains were recorded during April and June from long European equity index futures positions as prices increased on signs that major central banks were prepared to provide new stimulus to slowing economies. A portion of the Partnership’s gains for the second quarter was offset by losses incurred within the energy sector primarily during May from long positions in Brent crude oil and refined oil products as prices reversed lower on an outlook for weakening fuel demand. Additional losses were incurred in the energy sector from futures positions in gas oil and gasoline. Within the currency markets, losses were incurred during June from short positions in the euro versus the U.S. dollar following calls for the Fed to weaken the dollar to boost the U.S. economy. Within the agricultural complex, losses were incurred during May and June from short futures positions in the grain markets as prices rose after excessive rains in the U.S. Midwest reduced yield projections.

During the third quarter of 2019, the most notable gains were recorded within the currency sector during July from short positions in the British pound and euro versus the U.S. dollar as the relative value of the dollar appreciated as the U.S. economy outperformed the economies of other regions. Within the global interest rate markets, gains were experienced primarily during August from long positions in U.S., European, and Asian fixed income futures as prices benefited from mounting global growth concerns, escalating fears over a “hard” United Kingdom departure from the European Union, and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S.-Chinese trade war. Additional gains were recorded within the global stock index sector during July and September from long positions in U.S., European, and Asian equity index futures as speculation central banks across the globe would issue stimulus measures to spur the sputtering global economy. A portion of the Partnership’s gains for the third quarter was offset by losses incurred within the energy sector primarily during August from long positions in crude oil and its refined products as prices moved lower due to fears for a global economic slowdown fueled by ongoing trade battles between the U.S and China.

During the fourth quarter of 2019, the most significant losses were experienced from long positions in global interest rate futures during October, November, and December as prices fell amid growing confidence in the strength of the global economy. Losses in the currency sector were primarily recorded during October and December from short positions in the euro versus the U.S. dollar as political turmoil pulled the dollar lower. Further losses were incurred throughout the fourth quarter from positions in grains and soft commodity futures. In the metals, losses were experienced from long positions in copper, aluminum, and zinc futures. The Partnership’s losses for the fourth quarter were partially offset by gains from long positions in global stock index futures as prices advanced as investors were spurred by signs of robust economic growth. Further gains were recorded within the energies primarily during November from short positions in natural gas futures as mild weather throughout much of the U.S. limited heating demand.

 

26


The Partnership experienced a net trading loss of $17,812,588 before fees and expenses for the year ended December 31, 2018. Losses were primarily attributable to the Partnership’s trading of Futures Interests in the commodity, equity, currencies and interest rates sectors.

During the first quarter of 2018, the most notable losses were incurred within the global equity index sector, primarily during February, from long positions in U.S., European and Asian equity index futures as global stocks experienced a sharp sell-off to start the month after trending consistently higher in prior months. Within the currency sector, losses were incurred during February from short positions in the Japanese yen versus the U.S. dollar as the value of the Japanese yen advanced amid fears of a U.S.-led trade war. Within the global interest rate sector, losses incurred during January from long positions in European fixed income futures more than offset gains from short positions in U.S. fixed income futures. In commodities, net trading losses were experienced as profits in energies and soft commodities were more than offset by losses in grains and metals.

During the second quarter of 2018, the most significant losses were incurred within the currency markets during April and May as the Partnership’s short positioning in the U.S. dollar was negatively impacted by the dollar gaining strength. Losses within the metals markets were primarily incurred due to long positions in industrial metals during June as fears of trade war between the U.S. and China pulled prices lower. Additional losses in metals were recorded during April from short positions in aluminum futures. A portion of the Partnership’s losses during the second quarter was offset by gains achieved within the energy sector from long positions in crude oil and its refined products as tensions in the Middle East and the re-impositions of sanctions on Iran pushed energy prices higher throughout the quarter. Additional gains for the quarter were recorded in U.S. fixed income futures during April and June and in European bond futures during May.

During the third quarter of 2018, the most significant gains were achieved during July within the global stock index sector from long positions in U.S. and Asian equity index futures as stock prices rallied on positive global economic sentiment. Additional gains within the stock index sector were recorded from long positions in U.S. equity index futures during August. Within the energy markets, gains were experienced during August and September from long positions in crude oil and its refined products as prices moved higher on signs of persistent global supply shortfalls. Additional gains were recorded from short positions in gold and silver futures during July and August. A portion of the Partnership’s gains during the third quarter was offset by losses incurred within the global interest rate markets during July from long positions in European fixed income futures as prices fell as Eurozone economies gained strength.

During the fourth quarter of 2018, the most significant losses were incurred during October within the global stock index sector from long positions in U.S. and Pacific Rim equity index futures as prices declined amid a global selloff spurred by fears over rising bond yields, slowing global growth, and increased trade tensions. Further losses in this sector were incurred during November and December. Within the energy markets, losses were incurred during October from long positions in crude oil and its refined products after prices slumped on a weakening outlook for global energy demand. Smaller losses were recorded from trading U.S. fixed income futures during November and December. A portion of the Partnership’s losses during the fourth quarter was offset by gains experienced within the currency markets during October from short positions in the euro versus the U.S. dollar as the value of the euro declined after data showed business growth in Europe lost more momentum than expected, as trade tensions and worries regarding Italy overshadowed the European economy.

The results of operations for the twelve months ended 2017 is discussed under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” in the Partnership’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

 

27


The Partnership receives monthly interest on 100% of its average daily equity maintained in cash in the Partnership’s account during each month at a rate equal to 80% of the monthly average of the 4-week U.S. Treasury bill discount rate. For the avoidance of doubt, the Partnership will not receive interest on amounts in the futures brokerage account that are committed to margin. Any interest earned on the Partnership’s cash account in excess of the amounts described above, if any, will be retained by MS&Co. and/or shared with the General Partner. All interest earned on U.S. Treasury bills and money market fund securities will be retained by the Partnership, as applicable. Interest income for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 decreased by $110,149 and $132,973, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018. The decrease in interest income was primarily due to lower average net assets during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018. Interest earned by the Partnership will increase the net asset value of the Partnership. The amount of interest income earned by the Partnership depends on (1) the average daily equity maintained in cash in the Partnership’s accounts, (2) the amount of U.S. Treasury bills and/or money market mutual fund securities held by the Partnership and (3) interest rates over which none of the Partnership or MS&Co. has control.

Ongoing placement agent fees are calculated as a percentage of the Partnership’s Class A adjusted net assets on the first day of each month and are affected by trading performance, subscriptions, and redemptions. Accordingly, they must be compared in relation to the fluctuations in the monthly net asset values. Ongoing placement agent fees for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 decreased by $32,059 and $446,917, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in average net assets of Class A during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018.

Administrative and General Partner’s fees are paid to the Administrative and General Partner for administering the business and affairs of the Partnership. Administrative and General Partner’s fees are calculated as a percentage of the Partnership’s adjusted net asset value as of the beginning of each month and are affected by trading performance and redemptions. Accordingly, they must be compared in relation to the fluctuations in the monthly net asset values. Administrative and General Partner’s fees for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 decreased by $33,059 and $451,855, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in average net assets during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018.

Management fees are calculated as a percentage of the Partnership’s adjusted net asset value as of the beginning of each month and are affected by trading performance and redemptions. Accordingly, they must be compared in relation to the fluctuations in the monthly net asset values. Management fees for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 decreased by $117,653 and $704,456, respectively, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in average net assets during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 as compared to the corresponding periods in 2018.

Incentive fees are based on the new trading profits generated by the Trading Advisor at the end of the year as defined in the management agreement among the Partnership, the General Partner and Trading Advisor. Trading performance for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 did not result in the accrual incentive fees. To the extent that the Trading Advisor incurs a loss for the Partnership, the Trading Advisor will not be paid incentive fees until the Trading Advisor recovers any net loss incurred by the Trading Advisor and earns additional new trading profits for the Partnership.

 

28


For an analysis of unrealized gains and losses by contract type and a further description of 2019 trading results, refer to the Partnership’s Annual Report to limited partners for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” of this Form 10-K.

The Partnership’s gains and losses are allocated among its partners for income tax purposes.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Contractual Obligations.

The Partnership does not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, nor does it have contractual obligations or commercial commitments to make future payments, that would affect its liquidity or capital resources.

Market Risk.

The Partnership is a party to financial instruments with elements of off-balance sheet market and credit risk. The Partnership trades futures contracts, options on futures contracts and forward contracts on physical commodities and other commodity interests, including, but not limited to, foreign currencies, financial instruments, metals, energy, and agricultural products. In entering into these contracts, the Partnership is subject to the market risk that such contracts may be significantly influenced by market conditions, such as interest rate volatility, resulting in such contracts being less valuable. If the markets should move against all of the positions held by the Partnership at the same time, and the Trading Advisor was unable to offset positions of the Partnership, the Partnership could lose all of its assets and the limited partners would realize a loss equal to 100% of their capital accounts.

In addition to the Trading Advisor’s internal controls, the Trading Advisor must comply with the Partnership’s trading policies that include standards for liquidity and leverage that must be maintained. The Trading Advisor and Ceres monitor the Partnership’s trading activities to ensure compliance with the trading policies and Ceres can require the Trading Advisor to modify positions of the Partnership if Ceres believes they violate the Partnership’s trading policies.

Credit Risk.

In addition to market risk, in entering into futures, forward and option contracts, there is a credit risk to the Partnership that the counterparty on a contract will not be able to meet its obligations to the Partnership. The ultimate counterparty or guarantor of the Partnership for futures, forward and option contracts traded in the United States, and most foreign exchanges on which the Partnership trades, is the clearinghouse associated with such exchange. In general, a clearinghouse is backed by the membership of the exchange and will act in the event of non-performance by one of its members or one of its member’s customers, which should significantly reduce this credit risk. There is no assurance that a clearinghouse, exchange, or other exchange member will meet its obligations to the Partnership, and Ceres and the commodity broker will not indemnify the Partnership against a default by such parties. Further, the law is unclear as to whether a commodity broker has any obligation to protect its customers from loss in the event of an exchange or clearinghouse defaulting on trades effected for the broker’s customers. In cases where the Partnership trades off-exchange forward contracts with a counterparty, the sole recourse of the Partnership will be the forward contract’s counterparty.

Ceres deals with these credit risks of the Partnership in several ways. First, Ceres monitors the Partnership’s credit exposure to each exchange on a daily basis. The commodity broker informs the Partnership, as with all of their customers, of the Partnership’s net margin requirements for all of its existing open positions, and Ceres has installed a system which permits it to monitor the Partnership’s potential net credit exposure, exchange by exchange, by adding the unrealized trading gains on each exchange, if any, to the Partnership’s margin liability thereon.

Second, the Partnership’s trading policies limit the amount of its net assets that can be committed at any given time to futures contracts and require a minimum amount of diversification in the Partnership’s trading, usually over several different products and exchanges. Historically, the Partnership’s exposure to any one exchange has typically amounted to only a small percentage of its total net assets and, on those relatively few occasions where the Partnership’s credit exposure climbs above such level, Ceres deals with the situation on a case by case basis, carefully weighing whether the increased level of credit exposure remains appropriate. Material changes to the trading policies may be made only with the prior written approval of the limited partners owning more than 50% of Units then outstanding.

Third, with respect to non-exchange-traded forward contract trading, the Partnership trades with only those counterparties which Ceres, together with MS&Co., has determined to be creditworthy. The Partnership presently deals with MS&Co. as the sole counterparty on all trading of foreign currency forward contracts.

 

29


For additional information, see Note 4, “Financial Instruments” under “Notes to Financial Statements” in the Partnership’s Annual Report to limited partners for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” of this Form 10-K.

Inflation has not been a major factor in the Partnership’s operations.

Critical Accounting Policies.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the General Partner to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. As a result, actual results could differ from these estimates. A summary of the Partnership’s significant accounting policies is described in Note 2 to the Partnership’s financial statements included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” of this Form 10-K.

The Partnership’s most significant accounting policy is the valuation of its investments in Futures Interests and U.S. Treasury bills, as applicable. The fair value of exchange-traded futures, option and forward contracts is determined by the various exchanges, and reflects the settlement price for each contract as of the close of business on the last business day of the reporting period. The fair value of foreign currency forward contracts is extrapolated on a forward basis from the spot prices quoted as of approximately 3:00 P.M. (E.T.) on the last business day of the reporting period from various exchanges. The fair value of non-exchange-traded foreign currency option contracts is calculated by applying an industry standard model application for options valuation of foreign currency options, using as inputs the spot prices, interest rates, and option implied volatilities quoted as of approximately 3:00 P.M. (E.T.) on the last business day of the reporting period. U.S. Treasury bills are valued at the last available bid prices received from independent pricing services as of the close of the last business day of the reporting period.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

The Partnership is a commodity pool engaged primarily in the speculative trading of Futures Interests. The market-sensitive instruments held by the Partnership are acquired for speculative trading purposes only and, as a result, all or substantially all of the Partnership’s assets are at risk of trading loss. Unlike an operating company, the risk of market-sensitive instruments is inherent to the primary business activity of the Partnership.

The Futures Interests on such contracts traded by the Partnership involve varying degrees of related market risk. Market risk is often dependent upon changes in the level or volatility of held interest rates, exchange rates, and prices of financial instruments and commodities, factors that result in frequent changes in the fair value of the Partnership’s open positions, and consequently in its earnings, whether realized or unrealized, and cash flow. Gains and losses on open positions of exchange-traded futures, exchange-traded forward and exchange-traded futures-styled option contracts are settled daily through variation margin. Gains and losses on non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts and forward currency option contracts are settled upon termination of the contract. Gains and losses on non-exchange-traded forward currency option contracts are settled on an agreed-upon settlement date.

The Partnership’s total market risk may increase or decrease as it is influenced by a wide variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the diversification among the Partnership’s open positions, the volatility present within the markets, and the liquidity of the markets.

The face value of the market sector instruments held by the Partnership is typically many times the applicable margin requirements. Margin requirements generally range between 2% and 15% of contract face value. Additionally, the use of leverage causes the face value of the market sector instruments held by the Partnership typically to be many times the total capitalization of the Partnership.

The Partnership’s past performance is no guarantee of its future results. Any attempt to numerically quantify the Partnership’s market risk is limited by the uncertainty of its speculative trading. The Partnership’s speculative trading and use of leverage may cause future losses and volatility (i.e., “risk of ruin”) that far exceed the Partnership’s experience to date as discussed under the “Partnership’s Value at Risk in Different Market Sectors” section and significantly exceed the Value at Risk tables disclosed.

Limited partners will not be liable for losses exceeding the current net asset value of their investment.

 

30


Quantifying the Partnership’s Trading Value at Risk

The following quantitative disclosures regarding the Partnership’s market risk exposures contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor from civil liability provided for such statements by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (set forth in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)). All quantitative disclosures in this section are deemed to be forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor, except for statements of historical fact.

The Partnership accounts for open positions on the basis of fair value accounting principles. Any loss in the market value of the Partnership’s open positions is directly reflected in the Partnership’s earnings and cash flow.

The Partnership’s risk exposure in the market sectors traded by the Trading Advisor is estimated below in terms of Value at Risk. Please note that the Value at Risk model is used to numerically quantify market risk for historic reporting purposes only and is not utilized by either Ceres or the Trading Advisor in their daily risk management activities.

Value at Risk is a measure of the maximum amount which the Partnership could reasonably be expected to lose in a given market sector. However, the inherent uncertainty of the Partnership’s speculative trading and the recurrence of market movements far exceeding expectations in the markets traded by the Partnership could result in actual trading or non-trading losses far beyond the indicated Value at Risk or the Partnership’s experience to date (i.e., “risk of ruin”). In light of the foregoing, as well as the risks and uncertainties intrinsic to all future projections, the inclusion of the quantification in this section should not be considered to constitute any assurance or representation that the Partnership’s losses in any market sector will be limited to Value at Risk or by the Partnership’s attempts to manage its market risk.

Exchange margin requirements have been used by the Partnership as the measure of its Value at Risk. Margin requirements are set by exchanges to equal or exceed the maximum losses reasonably expected to be incurred in the fair value of any given contract in 95% - 99% of any one-day interval. The margin levels are established by dealers and exchanges using historical price studies as well as an assessment of current market volatility (including the implied volatility of the options on a given futures contract) and economic fundamentals to provide a probabilistic estimate of the maximum expected near-term one-day price fluctuation.

 

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The Partnership’s Value at Risk in Different Market Sectors

Value at Risk tables represent a probabilistic assessment of the risk of loss in market sensitive instruments. The following tables indicate the trading Value at Risk associated with the Partnership’s open positions by market category as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 and the highest, lowest and average values during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018. All open position trading risk exposures of the Partnership have been included in calculating the figures set forth below. There has been no material change in the trading Value at Risk information previously disclosed in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

As of December 31, 2019, the Partnership’s total capitalization was $84,106,832.

 

                            Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2019

Market Sector

     Value at Risk      % of Total
  Capitalization  
         High
  Value at Risk  
   Low
  Value at Risk  
   Average
  Value at Risk*  

Commodity

    $ 5,091,524        6.05         $ 5,091,524        $     1,343,273        $     3,549,551  

Equity

     6,345,996        7.54           8,371,697        363,308        5,502,811  

Currencies

     7,364,075        8.76           11,607,603        5,559,436        7,991,947  

Interest Rates

     3,849,263        4.58           4,512,372        651,798        3,381,281  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

            

Total

    $   22,650,858                      26.93            
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

            

* Annual average of daily Values at Risk.

As of December 31, 2018, the Partnership’s total capitalization was $81,279,688.

 

                            Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2018

Market Sector

     Value at Risk      % of Total
  Capitalization  
         High
  Value at Risk  
   Low
  Value at Risk  
   Average
  Value at Risk*  

Commodity

    $ 3,485,672        4.29         $ 7,391,829        $     3,254,927          $     4,584,783  

Equity

     2,053,974        2.53           7,546,949        2,043,894        5,228,800  

Currencies

     8,033,078        9.88           13,054,095        4,757,346        8,506,060  

Interest Rates

     2,183,497        2.69           4,558,102        2,151,503        3,448,698  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

            

Total

    $   15,756,221                      19.39            
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

            

* Annual average of daily Values at Risk.

Limitations on Value at Risk as an Assessment of Market Risk

Value at Risk models permit estimation of a portfolio’s aggregate market risk exposure, incorporating a range of varied market risks, reflect risk reduction due to portfolio diversification or hedging activities, and can cover a wide range of portfolio assets. However, Value at Risk measures should be viewed in light of the methodology’s limitations, which include, but may not be limited to, the following:

 

  ·  

past changes in market risk factors will not always result in accurate predictions of the distributions and correlations of future market movements;

  ·  

changes in portfolio value caused by market movements may differ from those of the Value at Risk model;

  ·  

Value at Risk results reflect past market fluctuations applied to current trading positions while future risk depends on future positions;

  ·  

Value at Risk using a one-day time horizon does not fully capture the market risk of positions that cannot be liquidated or hedged within one day; and

  ·  

the historical market risk factor data used for Value at Risk estimation may provide only limited insight into losses that could be incurred under certain unusual market movements.

 

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Non-Trading Risk

The Partnership has non-trading market risk on its foreign cash balances not needed for margin. These balances and any market risk they may represent are immaterial.

A decline in short-term interest rates would result in a decline in the Partnership’s cash management income. This cash flow risk is not considered to be material.

Materiality, as used throughout this section, is based on an assessment of reasonably possible market movements and any associated potential losses, taking into account the leverage, optionality and multiplier features of the Partnership’s market-sensitive instruments, in relation to the Partnership’s net assets.

Qualitative Disclosures Regarding Primary Trading Risk Exposures

The following qualitative disclosures regarding the Partnership’s market risk exposures – except for (i) those disclosures that are statements of historical fact and (ii) the descriptions of how the Partnership manages its primary market risk exposures – constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. The Partnership’s primary market risk exposures, as well as the strategies used and to be used by Ceres and the Trading Advisor for managing such exposures, are subject to numerous uncertainties, contingencies and risks, any one of which could cause the actual results of the Partnership’s risk controls to differ materially from the objectives of such strategies. Government interventions, defaults and expropriations, illiquid markets, the emergence of dominant fundamental factors, political upheavals, changes in historical price relationships, an influx of new market participants, increased regulation and many other factors could result in material losses, as well as in material changes to the risk exposures and the risk management strategies of the Partnership. Investors must be prepared to lose all or substantially all of their investment in the Partnership.

The Trading Advisor, in general, tends to utilize trading system(s) to take positions when market opportunities develop, and Ceres anticipates that the Trading Advisor will continue to do so.

The following were the primary trading risk exposures of the Partnership as of December 31, 2019, by market sector. It may be anticipated, however, that these market exposures will vary materially over time.

Stock Indices. The Partnership’s primary equity exposure is to equity price risk in the G8 countries. The stock index futures traded by the Partnership are limited to futures on broadly based indices. As of December 31, 2019, the Partnership’s primary exposures were in the Euro STOXX 50 (European Union), FTSE 100 (United Kingdom), S&P 500 (U.S.), TOPIX (Japan), NASDAQ 100 (U.S.) and Nikkei 225 (Japan) stock indices. Overall, the Partnership is primarily exposed to the risk of adverse price trends or static markets in the major U.S., European and Pacific Rim indices. (Static markets would not cause major market changes but would make it difficult for the Partnership to avoid being “whipsawed” into numerous small losses.)

Interest Rates. Interest rate movements directly affect the price of the futures positions held by the Partnership and indirectly the value of its stock index and currency positions. Interest rate movements in one country as well as relative interest rate movements between countries can materially affect the Partnership’s profitability. The Partnership’s primary interest rate exposure is to interest rate fluctuations in the United States and other G8 countries. However, the Partnership may also takes futures positions on the government debt of smaller nations – e.g., Australia.

Currencies. The Partnership’s currency exposure is to exchange rate fluctuations, primarily fluctuations that disrupt the historical pricing relationships between different currencies and currency pairs. These fluctuations are influenced by interest rate changes, as well as political and general economic conditions. The General Partner does not anticipate that the risk profile of the Partnership’s currency sector will change significantly in the future.

Commodities:

Metals. The Partnership’s primary metals exposure as of December 31, 2019 was to fluctuations in the price of copper, gold, silver, zinc and aluminum.

Energy. The Partnership’s primary energy market exposure is to oil and natural gas price movements, often resulting from political developments in the Middle East, weather conditions, and other factors contributing to supply and demand. Energy prices can be volatile and substantial profits and losses have been experienced and are expected to continue in this market.

 

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Grains. The Partnership’s trading risk exposure in grains is primarily to agricultural-related price movements, which are often directly affected by severe or unexpected weather conditions. The soybean complex, corn and wheat accounted for the Partnership’s grain exposure as of December 31, 2019.

Softs. The Partnership’s trading risk exposure in soft commodities is primarily to agricultural-related price movements, which are often directly affected by severe or unexpected weather conditions. Coffee, cocoa and cotton accounted for the majority of the Partnership’s soft commodity exposure as of December 31, 2019.

Qualitative Disclosures Regarding Non-Trading Risk Exposure

The following was the only non-trading risk exposure of the Partnership as of December 31, 2019.

Foreign Currency Balances. The Partnership may hold various foreign currency balances. The Trading Advisor regularly converts foreign currency balances to U.S. dollars in an attempt to control the Partnership’s non-trading risk.

Qualitative Disclosures Regarding Means of Managing Risk Exposure

Ceres monitors and attempts to mitigate the Partnership’s risk exposure on a daily basis through financial, credit and risk management monitoring systems and accordingly, believes that it has effective procedures for evaluating and limiting the credit and market risks to which the Partnership may be subject. These monitoring systems generally allow Ceres to statistically analyze actual trading results with risk-adjusted performance indicators and correlation statistics. In addition, online monitoring systems provide account analysis of futures, forward and option contracts by sector, margin requirements, gain and loss transactions and collateral positions.

Ceres monitors the Partnership’s performance and the concentration of open positions, and consults with the Trading Advisor concerning the Partnership’s overall risk profile. If Ceres felt it necessary to do so, Ceres could require the Trading Advisor to close out positions as well as enter positions traded on behalf of the Partnership. However, any such intervention would be a highly unusual event. Ceres primarily relies on the Trading Advisor’s own risk control policies while maintaining a general supervisory overview of the Partnership’s market risk exposures.

The Trading Advisor applies its own risk management policies to its trading. The Trading Advisor often follows diversification guidelines, margin limits and stop loss points to exit a position. The Trading Advisor’s research of risk management often suggests ongoing modifications to its trading programs.

As part of Ceres’s risk management, Ceres periodically meets with the Trading Advisor to discuss its risk management and to look for any material changes to the Trading Advisor’s portfolio balance and trading techniques. The Trading Advisor is required to notify Ceres of any material changes to its programs.

 

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Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

MANAGED FUTURES PREMIER GRAHAM L.P.

The following financial statements and related items of the Partnership are filed under this Item 8: Oath or Affirmation, Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017; Statements of Financial Condition at December 31, 2019 and 2018; Condensed Schedules of Investments at December 31, 2019 and 2018; Statements of Income and Expenses for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017; Statements of Changes in Partners’ Capital for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017; and Notes to Financial Statements.

 

35


To the Limited Partners of

Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the information contained herein is accurate and complete.

 

LOGO

 

By:   Patrick T. Egan
  President and Director
 

Ceres Managed Futures LLC

General Partner,

  Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.
Ceres Managed Futures LLC
522 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10036

(855) 672-4468

 

36


Management’s Report on Internal Control Over

Financial Reporting

Ceres Managed Futures LLC (“Ceres”) is the general partner of Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P. (the “Partnership”) and is responsible for the management of the Partnership.

Management of the Partnership, Ceres (“Management”), is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a–15(f) and 15d–15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and for the assessment of internal control over financial reporting. The Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

 

  (i)

pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Partnership;

 

  (ii)

provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and that receipts and expenditures of the Partnership are being made only in accordance with authorizations of Management and the directors of Ceres; and

 

  (iii)

provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection and correction of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Partnership’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management has assessed the effectiveness of the Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019. In making this assessment, Management used the criteria set forth in the Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on its assessment, Management concluded that the Partnership maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, based on the criteria referred to above.

 

LOGO

 

   

   LOGO

 

Patrick T. Egan    

Steven Ross

President and Director    

Chief Financial Officer and Director

Ceres Managed Futures LLC    

Ceres Managed Futures LLC

General Partner,    

General Partner,

Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.    

Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

 

37


Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Partners of Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.,

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statements of financial condition of Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P. (the “Partnership”), including the condensed schedules of investments, as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, and the related statements of income and expenses and changes in partners’ capital for each of the three years in the period then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Partnership at December 31, 2019 and 2018, the results of its operations and the changes in its partners’ capital for each of the three years in the period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Partnership’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Partnership’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Partnership in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Partnership is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of the Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

We have served as the auditor of the Partnership since 2017.

Boston, MA

March 19, 2020

 

38


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Statements of Financial Condition

December 31, 2019 and 2018

 

         December 31,    
2019
      December 31,    
2018

Assets:

    

Equity in trading account:

    

Unrestricted cash (Note 2e)

     $ 63,480,873       $ 68,726,517  

Restricted cash (Note 2e)

     23,130,597       16,164,926  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total equity in trading account

     86,611,470       84,891,443  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest receivable (Note 2h)

     70,012       109,350  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total assets

     $ 86,681,482       $ 85,000,793  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liabilities and Partners’ Capital:

    

Liabilities:

    

Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

     $ 587,709       $ 1,052,957  

Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

     1,261,911       283,816  

Accrued expenses:

    

Administrative and General Partner’s fees (Note 2i)

     148,476       148,184  

Management fees (Note 3)

     100,221       129,660  

Redemptions payable to Limited Partners (Notes 2n and 2o)

     476,333       2,106,488  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     2,574,650       3,721,105  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partners’ Capital:

    

General Partner, Class Z, 101,536.878 and 138,644.001 Units outstanding at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively

     938,707       1,044,502  

Limited Partners, Class A, 3,744,360.651 and 4,346,874.449 Units outstanding at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively

     83,168,125       80,235,186  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total partners’ capital (net asset value)

     84,106,832       81,279,688  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total liabilities and partners’ capital

     $     86,681,482       $ 85,000,793  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net asset value per Unit:

    

Class A

     $ 22.21       $ 18.46  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Z

     $             9.24         $             7.53    
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

39


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Condensed Schedule of Investments

December 31, 2019

 

     Notional ($)/Number
of Contracts
      Fair Value           % of Partners’    
Capital
 

Futures Contracts Purchased

      

Commodity

     667       $ 1,060,773         1.26   % 

Equity

     1,328       228,739       0.27   

Currencies

     4       4,495       0.01   

Interest Rates

     1,811       (1,727,080     (2.05)  
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total futures contracts purchased

       (433,073     (0.51)  
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Futures Contracts Sold

      

Commodity

     596       (570,515     (0.68)  

Equity

     231       (181,960     (0.22)  

Currencies

     56       (9,587     (0.01)  

Interest Rates

     1,051       607,426       0.72   
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total futures contracts sold

       (154,636     (0.19)  
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

       $ (587,709     (0.70)   % 
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrealized Appreciation on Open Forward Contracts

      

Commodity

     181       $ 221,915       0.26    % 

Currencies

   $ 54,910,028       544,092       0.65   
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total unrealized appreciation on open forward contracts

       766,007       0.91   
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrealized Depreciation on Open Forward Contracts

      

Commodity

     193       (703,280     (0.84)  

Currencies

   $         135,994,690         (1,324,638     (1.57)  
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

       (2,027,918     (2.41)  
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

       $     (1,261,911                 (1.50)   % 
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

40


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Condensed Schedule of Investments

December 31, 2018

 

    Notional ($)/Number
of Contracts
  Fair Value   % of Partners’
Capital
 

Futures Contracts Purchased

     

Commodity

    127       $ (1,086,825     (1.34)   % 

Equity

    178       (922,603     (1.13)  

Currencies

    59       (54,022     (0.07)  

Interest Rates

    1,988       1,260,612       1.55   
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total futures contracts purchased

      (802,838     (0.99)  
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Futures Contracts Sold

     

Commodity

    713       960,858       1.18   

Equity

    392       521,908       0.64   

Currencies

    10       4,305       0.01   

Interest Rates

    1,550       (1,737,190     (2.14)  
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total futures contracts sold

      (250,119     (0.31)  
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

      $ (1,052,957     (1.30)   % 
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrealized Appreciation on Open Forward Contracts

     

Commodity

    264       $ 751,884       0.92   % 

Currencies

  $ 70,440,817           1,128,584       1.39   
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total unrealized appreciation on open forward contracts

      1,880,468       2.31   
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrealized Depreciation on Open Forward Contracts

     

Commodity

    89       (341,019     (0.42)  

Currencies

  $ 118,463,408         (1,823,265     (2.24)  
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

      (2,164,284     (2.66)  
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

      $ (283,816     (0.35)    % 
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

41


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Statements of Income and Expenses

For the Years Ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017

 

     2019   2018   2017

Investment Income:

      

Interest income

    $ 1,243,920      $ 1,376,893      $ 767,410  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expenses:

      

Administrative and General Partner’s fees (Note 2i)

     1,680,915       2,132,770       2,326,881  

Ongoing placement agent fees (Note 2j)

     1,661,523       2,108,440       2,299,967  

Management fees (Note 3)

     1,161,716       1,866,172       2,036,022  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Total expenses

     4,504,154       6,107,382       6,662,870  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net investment loss

     (3,260,234     (4,730,489     (5,895,460
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trading Results:

      

Net gains (losses) on trading of commodity interests:

      

Net realized gains (losses) on closed contracts

     19,166,338       (10,660,546     7,703,605  

Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on open contracts

     (521,383     (7,152,042     2,996,032  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Total trading results

     18,644,955       (17,812,588     10,699,637  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income (loss)

    $   15,384,721      $   (22,543,077    $ 4,804,177  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income (loss) per Unit (Note 7)*:

      

Class A

    $ 3.75      $ (4.68    $ 1.08  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Z

    $ 1.71      $ (1.72    $ 0.60  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted average Units outstanding:

      

Class A

     3,997,784.932       4,886,957.150           5,362,124.118  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Z

     114,296.697        139,930.009        158,440.533   
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

Represents the change in net asset value per Unit.

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

42


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Statements of Changes in Partners’ Capital

For the Years Ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017

 

     Class A   Class Z   Total
     Amount   Units   Amount   Units   Amount   Units

Partners’ Capital, December 31, 2016

      $ 128,558,969       5,826,676.707        $ 1,537,801       177,782.627        $ 130,096,770       6,004,459.334  

Subscriptions - Limited Partners

     918,536       42,440.978       -           -           918,536       42,440.978  

Redemptions - General Partner

     -           -           (300,000     (36,267.329     (300,000     (36,267.329

Redemptions - Limited Partners

     (22,615,682     (1,046,173.203     -           -           (22,615,682     (1,046,173.203

Net income (loss)

     4,732,396       -           71,781       -           4,804,177       -      
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partners’ Capital, December 31, 2017

     111,594,219           4,822,944.482           1,309,582           141,515.298           112,903,801       4,964,459.780  

Subscriptions - General Partner

     -           -           116,187       12,560.802       116,187       12,560.802  

Subscriptions - Limited Partners

     9,800,783       425,348.852       -           -           9,800,783       425,348.852  

Redemptions - General Partner

     -           -           (150,000     (15,432.099     (150,000     (15,432.099

Redemptions - Limited Partners

     (18,848,006     (901,418.885     -           -           (18,848,006     (901,418.885

Net income (loss)

     (22,311,810     -           (231,267     -           (22,543,077     -      
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partners’ Capital, December 31, 2018

         80,235,186       4,346,874.449       1,044,502       138,644.001       81,279,688           4,485,518.450  

Subscriptions - Limited Partners

     75,624       3,584.803       -           -           75,624       3,584.803  

Redemptions - General Partner

     -           -           (320,000     (37,107.123     (320,000     (37,107.123

Redemptions - Limited Partners

     (12,313,201     (606,098.601     -           -           (12,313,201     (606,098.601

Net income (loss)

     15,170,516       -           214,205       -           15,384,721       -      
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partners’ Capital, December 31, 2019

      $ 83,168,125        3,744,360.651         $ 938,707        101,536.878         $ 84,106,832        3,845,897.529   
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

43


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

1.

Organization:

Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P. (“Premier Graham” or the “Partnership”) is a Delaware limited partnership organized in 1998 to engage primarily in the speculative trading of futures contracts, options on futures and forward contracts, forward contracts on physical commodities and other commodity interests, including, but not limited to, foreign currencies, financial instruments, metals, energy and agricultural products (collectively, “Futures Interests”) (refer to Note 4, “Financial Instruments”). The General Partner (as defined below) may also determine to invest up to all of the Partnership’s assets in United States (“U.S.”) Treasury bills and/or money market mutual funds, including money market mutual funds managed by Morgan Stanley or its affiliates.

Ceres Managed Futures LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, acts as the general partner (“Ceres” or the “General Partner”) and commodity pool operator of the Partnership. The General Partner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc. (“MSD Holdings”). MSD Holdings is ultimately owned by Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is a publicly held company whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Morgan Stanley is engaged in various financial services and other businesses. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC is doing business as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (“Morgan Stanley Wealth Management”). This entity currently acts as the placement agent (the “Placement Agent”) for the Partnership. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is a principal subsidiary of MSD Holdings.

During the periods covered by this report, the Partnership’s commodity broker was Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“MS&Co.”), a registered futures commission merchant. MS&Co. also acts as the counterparty on all trading of foreign currency forward contracts. MS&Co. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. The Partnership deposited a portion of its cash in a non-trading bank account at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

As of November 1, 2018, the Partnership entered into an alternative investment placement agent agreement (the “Harbor Selling Agreement”), by and among the Partnership, the General Partner, Morgan Stanley Distribution Inc. (“MSDI”), and Harbor Investment Advisory, LLC, a Maryland limited liability company (“Harbor”), which supersedes and replaces the alternative investment selling agent agreement, dated January 19, 2018, between the Partnership, the General Partner and Harbor. Pursuant to the Harbor Selling Agreement, MSDI and Harbor have been appointed as a non-exclusive selling agent and sub-selling agent, respectively, of the Partnership for the purpose of finding eligible investors for units of limited partnership interest (“Unit(s)”) through offerings that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) thereof and Rule 506 of Regulation D promulgated thereunder and for Harbor to serve as an investment advisor to its customers investing in one or more of the partnerships party to the Harbor Selling Agreement; provided, that, included within such appointment, Harbor will provide certain services to certain holders of Units of the Partnership, who had acquired such Units prior to such holders becoming clients of Harbor. The Harbor Selling Agreement continues in effect until September 30, 2020 unless terminated in certain circumstances as set forth in the Harbor Selling Agreement, including by any party on thirty days’ prior written notice, after which the General Partner or the Partnership may, in its sole discretion, renew the Harbor Selling Agreement for additional one year periods. Pursuant to the Harbor Selling Agreement, the Partnership will pay Harbor an ongoing placement agent fee equal to 1/12th of 2.0% (a 2.0% annual rate) of the net asset value per Unit for certain holders of Class A Units in the Partnership, as set forth in the Harbor Selling Agreement.

As of December 31, 2019, Units of the Partnership are being offered in three share classes (each, a “Class” or collectively, the “Classes”). The Class of Units that a limited partner receives generally depends on the aggregate subscription amount made by such limited partner in the Partnership, although the General Partner may determine to offer Units to investors at its discretion.

 

    Class of Units    

 

    Aggregate Investment    

A

  Up to $4,999,999

D

  $5,000,000 and above

Z

  All

 

44


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

As of July 1, 2016, the General Partner of the Partnership began offering Class Z Units. All Units issued prior to June 30, 2016 were deemed Class A Units. The rights, liabilities, risks, and fees associated with investment in the Class A Units did not change. Class Z Units were first issued at $10 per Unit. Class Z Units are offered to limited partners who receive advisory services from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and certain employees of Morgan Stanley and/or its subsidiaries (and their family members). Each of Class A, D and Z Units of the Partnership have the same investment exposure and rights except for the amount of the ongoing placement agent fee charged to each Class of Units; Class Z Units are not subject to an ongoing placement agent fee.

The General Partner may, at its discretion, offer additional Classes of Units as described in the private placement memorandum of the Partnership, as amended from time to time (the “Memorandum”).

Ceres is required to maintain a 1% minimum interest in the equity of the Partnership and income (losses) are shared by Ceres and the limited partners based on their proportional ownership interest.

The General Partner has delegated certain administrative functions to SS&C Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation, currently doing business as SS&C GlobeOp (the “Administrator”). Pursuant to a master services agreement, the Administrator furnishes certain administrative, accounting, regulatory reporting, tax and other services as agreed from time to time. In addition, the Administrator maintains certain books and records of the Partnership. The General Partner pays or reimburses the Partnership, from the administrative and General Partner’s fee it receives, the ordinary administrative expenses of the Partnership, including the expenses related to the engagement of the Administrator.

 

2.

Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies:

 

  a.

Use of Estimates. The preparation of financial statements and accompanying notes in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) requires the General Partner to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expenses, and related disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities in the financial statements and accompanying notes. As a result, actual results could differ from these estimates, and those differences could be material.

 

  b.

Profit Allocation. The General Partner and each limited partner of the Partnership share in the profits and losses of the Partnership in proportion to the amount of Partnership interest owned by each, except that no limited partner is liable for obligations of the Partnership in excess of its capital contributions and profits, if any, net of distributions or redemptions and losses, if any.

 

  c.

Statement of Cash Flows. The Partnership has not provided a Statement of Cash Flows, as permitted by Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 230, “Statement of Cash Flows.” The Statements of Changes in Partners’ Capital is included herein, and as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Partnership carried no debt and all of the Partnership’s investments were carried at fair value and classified as Level 1 or Level 2 measurements.

 

  d.

Partnership’s Investments. All Futures Interests held by the Partnership, including derivative financial instruments and derivative commodity instruments, are held for trading purposes. The Futures Interests are recorded on trade date and open contracts are recorded at fair value (as described in Note 6, “Fair Value Measurements”) at the measurement date. Investments in Futures Interests denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rates prevailing at the measurement date. Gains or losses are realized when contracts are liquidated and are determined using the first-in, first-out method. Net unrealized gains or losses on open contracts are included as a component of equity in trading account in the Statements of Financial Condition. Net realized gains or losses and net change in unrealized gains or losses are included in the Statements of Income and Expenses. The Partnership does not isolate the portion of the results of operations arising from the effect of changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations from changes in market prices of investments held. Such fluctuations are included in total trading results in the Statements of Income and Expenses.

 

45


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

  e.

Restricted and Unrestricted Cash. The cash held by the Partnership that is available for Futures Interests trading is on deposit in a commodity brokerage account with MS&Co. As reflected in the Statements of Financial Condition, the Partnership’s restricted cash is equal to the cash portion of assets on deposit to meet margin requirements, as determined by the exchange or counterparty, and required by MS&Co. All of these amounts are maintained separately. At December 31, 2019 and 2018, the amount of cash held for margin requirements was $23,130,597 and $16,164,926, respectively. Cash that is not classified as restricted cash is therefore classified as unrestricted cash. Restricted and unrestricted cash includes cash denominated in foreign currencies of $(555,456) (proceeds of $550,088) and $(361,312) (proceeds of $364,480) as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

  f.

Foreign Currency Transactions and Translation. The Partnership’s functional currency is the U.S. dollar; however, the Partnership may transact business in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the rate in effect at the date of the Statements of Financial Condition. Income and expense items denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the rate in effect during the period.

 

  g.

Income Taxes. Income taxes have not been recorded as each partner is individually liable for the taxes, if any, on its share of the Partnership’s income and expenses. The Partnership follows the guidance of ASC 740, “Income Taxes,” which prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing the Partnership’s tax returns to determine whether the tax positions are “more-likely-than-not” of being sustained “when challenged” or “when examined” by the applicable tax authority. Tax positions determined not to meet the more-likely-than-not threshold would be recorded as a tax benefit or liability in the Statements of Financial Condition for the current year. If a tax position does not meet the minimum statutory threshold to avoid the incurring of penalties, an expense for the amount of the statutory penalty and interest, if applicable, shall be recognized in the Partnership’s Statements of Income and Expenses in the years in which the position is claimed or expected to be claimed. The General Partner has concluded that there are no significant uncertain tax positions that would require recognition in the financial statements. The Partnership files U.S. federal and various state and local tax returns. No income tax returns are currently under examination. The 2016 through 2019 tax years remain subject to examination by U.S. federal and most state tax authorities.

 

  h.

Revenue Recognition. For excess cash which is not invested by the General Partner in U.S. Treasury bills and/or other permitted investments, monthly, MS&Co. credits the Partnership with interest income on 100% of the average daily equity maintained in cash in the Partnership’s account during each month at a rate equal to 80% of the monthly average of the 4-week U.S. Treasury bill discount rate. MS&Co. and Ceres retain any interest earned on such uninvested cash in excess of the interest paid to the Partnership. For purposes of these interest credits, daily funds do not include monies due to the Partnership on or with respect to futures, forward, or option contracts that have not been received.

 

  i.

Administrative and General Partner’s Fee. The Partnership pays the General Partner a monthly administrative and General Partner’s fee equal to 1/12th of 2% (2% annual rate) of the Partnership’s net assets (plus “notional” funds, if any) as of the first day of each month, as described in the Partnership’s Memorandum. The General Partner then pays or reimburses the Partnership for all fees and costs charged or incurred by the commodity brokers for trades executed on behalf of the Partnership, and for all ordinary administrative and offering expenses. Such fees cover all brokerage fees, transaction fees and costs, and legal, accounting and auditing expenses, printing costs, filing fees, escrow fees, marketing costs, and other related fees and expenses.

 

46


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

  j.

Placement Agent Fees. The Partnership pays the Placement Agent ongoing compensation on a monthly basis equal to a percentage of the net asset value (as defined in the Memorandum) of a limited partner’s Unit as of the beginning of each month. The applicable rate payable by each limited partner is determined by the Class of Units held by such limited partner. The Partnership pays the Placement Agent the following percentage in accordance with the following schedule:

 

   Class of Units   

 

    Annualized Rate (%)    

A

  2.00%

D

  0.75%

Z

  0.00%

The Placement Agent pays a portion of the ongoing placement agent fees it receives from the Partnership to the Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor or Private Wealth Advisor responsible for selling the Units to the relevant limited partners. Certain limited partners (other than ERISA/IRA investors) may be deemed to hold Class Z Units. Class Z Units are not subject to ongoing placement agent fees.

 

  k.

Continuing Offering. Units of the Partnership are offered at a price equal to 100% of the net asset value per Unit as of the first day of each month at the final net asset value per Unit as of the last day of the immediately preceding month. The minimum subscription amount in Class A Units in the Partnership is $25,000 ($10,000 for ERISA/IRA investors), subject to the discretion of Ceres to accept a lower amount. Certain investors are eligible to purchase Class D Units upon investing a minimum of $5,000,000 in the Partnership. The Class of Units that a limited partner receives upon a subscription will generally depend upon the aggregate amount invested in the Partnership, although the General Partner may determine to offer Class A or Class D Units to an investor in its sole discretion, regardless of investment amount. Additional subscriptions can be made in a minimum amount of $10,000, subject to the discretion of Ceres to accept a lower amount. The request for subscriptions must be delivered to a limited partner’s Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Branch Office in time for it to be forwarded to and received by Ceres no later than 3:00 P.M., New York City time, on the third business day before the end of the month.

No selling commissions or charges related to the initial offering of Units are paid by the limited partners or the Partnership. MS&Co. pays all such costs.

 

  l.

Equity in Trading Account. The Partnership’s asset “Equity in trading account” reflected in the Statements of Financial Condition consists of cash on deposit with MS&Co., a portion of which is to be used as margin for trading and net unrealized appreciation on open futures and forward contracts, which are calculated as the difference between the original contract value and fair value.

The Partnership, in its normal course of business, enters into various contracts with MS&Co. acting as its commodity broker. Pursuant to the brokerage agreement with MS&Co., to the extent that such trading results in unrealized gains or losses, these amounts are offset for the Partnership and are reported on a net basis in the Statements of Financial Condition.

The Partnership has offset its unrealized gains or losses executed with the same counterparty as allowable under the terms of its master netting agreement with MS&Co., the counterparty on such contracts. The Partnership has consistently applied its right to offset.

 

47


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

  m.

Investment Company Status. The Partnership has adopted Accounting Standards Update 2013-08, “Financial Services — Investment Companies (Topic 946): Amendments to the Scope, Measurement and Disclosure Requirements” and based on the General Partner’s assessment, the Partnership has been deemed to be an investment company since inception. Accordingly, the Partnership follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance of Topic 946 and reflects its investments at fair value with unrealized gains and losses resulting from changes in fair value reflected in the Partnership’s Statements of Income and Expenses.

 

  n.

Redemptions. Limited partners may redeem some or all of their Units at 100% of the net asset value per Unit. The request for redemptions must be delivered to a limited partner’s local Morgan Stanley Branch Office in time for it to be forwarded and received by Ceres no later than 3:00 P.M., New York City time, on the third business day before the end of the month in which the redemption is to be effective.

 

  o.

Exchanges. Limited partners may redeem some or all of their Units at 100% of the net asset value per Unit of the Partnership on the Redemption Date and use the proceeds to purchase units in any other commodity pool operated by Ceres that is open to investment. Limited partners may also redeem units in any other commodity pool operated by Ceres and use the proceeds to purchase Units in the Partnership. The request for exchanges must be delivered to a limited partner’s Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Branch Office in time for it to be forwarded and received by Ceres no later than 3:00 P.M., New York City time, on the third business day before the end of the month.

 

  p.

Distributions. Distributions, other than redemptions of Units, are made on a pro-rata basis at the sole discretion of Ceres. No distributions have been made to date. Ceres does not intend to make any distributions of the Partnership’s profits.

 

  q.

Dissolution of the Partnership. The Partnership will terminate on December 31, 2035, or at an earlier date if certain conditions occur as defined in the Memorandum.

 

  r.

Net Income (Loss) per Unit. Net income (loss) per Unit is calculated in accordance with ASC 946, “Financial Services – Investment Companies.” See Note 7, “Financial Highlights.”

 

3.

Trading Advisor:

Ceres, on behalf of the Partnership, has retained Graham Capital Management L.P. (“Graham” or the “Trading Advisor”) to make all trading decisions for the Partnership.

Compensation to the Trading Advisor by the Partnership consists of a management fee and an incentive fee as follows:

Management Fee Effective February 1, 2019, the Partnership pays the Trading Advisor a flat-rate monthly fee equal to 1/12th of 1.35% (1.35% annual rate) of the Partnership’s net assets as of the first day of each month. Prior to February 1, 2019, the Partnership paid the Trading Advisor a flat-rate monthly fee equal to 1/12th of 1.75% (1.75% annual rate) of the Partnership’s net assets as of the first day of each month.

Incentive Fee Effective February 1, 2019, the Partnership pays the Trading Advisor an annual incentive fee equal to 18% of trading profits experienced by the Partnership as of the end of such period. Prior to February 1, 2019, the Partnership paid the Trading Advisor an incentive fee equal to 20% of trading profits experienced by the Partnership as of the end of each calendar month.

Trading profits represent the amount by which profits from trading in Futures Interests exceed losses after ongoing placement agent, management and administrative and General Partner’s fees are deducted. When the Trading Advisor experiences losses with respect to net assets as of the end of such period, the Trading Advisor must recover such losses before the Trading Advisor is eligible for an incentive fee in the future. Cumulative trading losses are adjusted on a pro-rated basis for the amount of each month’s net redemptions.

 

48


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

4.

Financial Instruments:

The Partnership trades Futures Interests. Futures and forwards represent contracts for delayed delivery of an instrument at a specified date and price.

The fair value of an exchange-traded contract is based on the settlement price quoted by the exchange on the day with respect to which fair value is being determined. If an exchange-traded contract could not have been liquidated on such day due to the operation of daily limits or other rules of the exchange, the settlement price will be equal to the settlement price on the first subsequent day on which the contract could be liquidated.

The General Partner estimates that, at any given time, approximately 27.8% to 68.8% of the Partnership’s contracts are traded over-the-counter.

In general, the risks associated with non-exchange-traded contracts are greater than those associated with exchange-traded contracts because of the greater risk of default by the counterparty to a non-exchange-traded contract. The Partnership has credit risk associated with counterparty nonperformance. As of the date of the financial statements, the credit risk associated with the instruments in which the Partnership trades is limited to the unrealized gain amounts reflected in the Statements of Financial Condition.

The Partnership also has credit risk because MS&Co. acts as the commodity futures broker, or the counterparty, with respect to most of the Partnership’s assets. Exchange-traded futures and exchange-traded forward contracts are fair valued on a daily basis, with variations in value settled on a daily basis. With respect to the Partnership’s non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts, there are no daily settlements of variation in value, nor is there any requirement that an amount equal to the net unrealized gains (losses) on such contracts be segregated. However, the Partnership is required to meet margin requirements with the counterparty, which is accomplished by daily maintenance of the cash balance in a custody account and U.S. Treasury bills held at MS&Co., for the benefit of MS&Co. With respect to those non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts, the Partnership is at risk to the ability of MS&Co., the sole counterparty on all such contracts, to perform. The Partnership has a netting agreement with MS&Co. The primary terms are based on industry standard master netting agreements. This agreement, which seeks to reduce both the Partnership’s and MS&Co.’s exposure on non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts, should materially decrease the Partnership’s credit risk in the event of MS&Co.’s bankruptcy or insolvency.

The General Partner monitors and attempts to mitigate the Partnership’s risk exposure on a daily basis through financial, credit and risk management monitoring systems, and accordingly, believes that it has effective procedures for evaluating and limiting the credit and market risks to which the Partnership may be subject. These monitoring systems generally allow the General Partner to statistically analyze actual trading results with risk adjusted performance indicators and correlation statistics. In addition, online monitoring systems provide account analysis of U.S. Treasury bills, futures, forward and option contracts by sector, margin requirements, gain and loss transactions and collateral positions.

The Futures Interests traded, and the U.S. Treasury bills held, by the Partnership involve varying degrees of related market risk. Market risk is often dependent upon changes in the level or volatility of interest rates, exchange rates, and prices of financial instruments and commodities, factors that result in frequent changes in the fair value of the Partnership’s open positions, and consequently, in its earnings, whether realized or unrealized, and cash flow. Gains and losses on open positions of exchange-traded futures and exchange-traded forward contracts are settled daily through variation margin. Gains and losses on non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts are settled upon termination of the contract.

In the ordinary course of business, the Partnership enters into contracts and agreements that contain various representations and warranties and which provide general indemnifications. The Partnership’s maximum exposure under these arrangements cannot be determined, as this could include future claims that have not yet been made against the Partnership. The General Partner considers the risk of any future obligation relating to these indemnifications to be remote.

 

49


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

5.

Trading Activities:

The Partnership’s objective is to profit from speculative trading in Futures Interests. Therefore, the Trading Advisor will take speculative positions in Futures Interests where it feels the best profit opportunities exist for its trading strategy. As such, the average number of contracts outstanding in absolute quantities (the total of the open long and open short positions) has been presented as a part of the volume disclosure, as position direction is not an indicative factor in such volume disclosures.

All of the Futures Interests owned by the Partnership are held for trading purposes. The monthly average number of futures contracts traded during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were 6,338 and 7,300, respectively. The monthly average number of metals forward contracts traded during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were 650 and 826, respectively. The monthly average notional values of currency forward contracts traded during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were $380,666,033 and $415,107,828, respectively.

The following tables summarize the gross and net amounts recognized relating to the assets and liabilities of the Partnership’s derivative instruments and transactions eligible for offset subject to master netting agreements or similar arrangements as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

         Gross Amounts   Amounts            
         Offset in the   Presented in the   Gross Amounts Not Offset in the        
     Gross   Statements of   Statements of       Statements of Financial Condition            

December 31, 2019

   Amounts
Recognized
  Financial
Condition
  Financial
Condition
  Financial
Instruments
     Cash Collateral
Received/Pledged*
      Net Amount      

Assets

             

Futures

     $ 2,519,269       $ (2,519,269     $ -             $  -              $ -             $ -        

Forwards

           766,007       (766,007     -             -              -             -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total assets

     $ 3,285,276       $ (3,285,276     $ -             $ -              $ -             $ -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liabilities

             

Futures

     $ (3,106,978     $ 2,519,269       $ (587,709     $ -               $ 587,709       $ -        

Forwards

     (2,027,918     766,007       (1,261,911     -               1,261,911       -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     $ (5,134,896 )       $ 3,285,276        $ (1,849,620 )       $ -               $ 1,849,620        $ -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net fair value

                $  -      
             

 

 

 

 

         Gross Amounts   Amounts             
         Offset in the   Presented in the   Gross Amounts Not Offset in the         
     Gross   Statements of   Statements of       Statements of Financial Condition             

December 31, 2018

   Amounts
Recognized
  Financial
Condition
  Financial
Condition
  Financial
Instruments
     Cash Collateral
Received/Pledged*
         Net Amount      

Assets

              

Futures

     $ 3,370,017       $ (3,370,017     $ -             $  -              $ -              $ -        

Forwards

             1,880,468       (1,880,468     -             -              -              -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total assets

     $ 5,250,485       $ (5,250,485     $ -             $  -              $ -              $ -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Liabilities

              

Futures

     $ (4,422,974     $ 3,370,017       $ (1,052,957     $  -              $ 1,052,957        $  -        

Forwards

     (2,164,284             1,880,468       (283,816     $  -                      283,816        -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     $ (6,587,258 )       $ 5,250,485        $ (1,336,773 )       -              $ 1,336,773        $ -        
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Net fair value

           $  -                 $ -      
              

 

 

 

 

*

In the event of default by the Partnership, MS&Co., the Partnership’s commodity futures broker and the sole counterparty to the Partnership’s non-exchange-traded contracts, as applicable, has the right to offset the Partnership’s obligation with the Partnership’s cash and/or U.S. Treasury bills held by MS&Co., thereby minimizing MS&Co.’s risk of loss. In certain instances, MS&Co. may not post collateral and as such, in the event of default by MS&Co., the Partnership is exposed to the amount shown in the Statements of Financial Condition. In the case of exchange-traded contracts, the Partnership’s exposure to counterparty risk may be reduced since the exchange’s clearinghouse interposes its credit between buyer and seller and the clearinghouse’s guarantee funds may be available in the event of a default.

 

50


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

The following tables indicate the gross fair values of derivative instruments of futures and forward contracts as separate assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

    

December 31, 2019

 

Assets

  

Futures Contracts

  

Commodity

     $ 1,269,325    

Equity

     546,906    

Currencies

     25,888    

Interest Rates

     677,150    
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized appreciation on open futures contracts

                     2,519,269    
  

 

 

 

Liabilities

  

Futures Contracts

  

Commodity

     (779,067)   

Equity

     (500,127)   

Currencies

     (30,980)   

Interest Rates

     (1,796,804)   
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

     (3,106,978)   
  

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

     $ (587,709) 
  

 

 

 

Assets

  

Forward Contracts

  

Commodity

     $ 221,915    

Currencies

     544,092    
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized appreciation on open forward contracts

     766,007    
  

 

 

 

Liabilities

  

Forward Contracts

  

Commodity

     (703,280)   

Currencies

     (1,324,638)   
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

     (2,027,918)   
  

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

     $ (1,261,911)  ** 
  

 

 

 

 

*

This amount is in “Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts” in the Statements of Financial Condition.

 

**

This amount is in “Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts” in the Statements of Financial Condition.

 

51


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

    

December 31, 2018

 

Assets

  

Futures Contracts

  

Commodity

     $ 1,479,301    

Equity

     603,645    

Currencies

     12,269    

Interest Rates

     1,274,802    
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized appreciation on open futures contracts

     3,370,017    
  

 

 

 

Liabilities

  

Futures Contracts

  

Commodity

     (1,605,268)   

Equity

     (1,004,340)   

Currencies

     (61,986)   

Interest Rates

     (1,751,380)   
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

     (4,422,974)   
  

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts

     $ (1,052,957) 
  

 

 

 

Assets

  

Forward Contracts

  

Commodity

     $ 751,884    

Currencies

     1,128,584    
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized appreciation on open forward contracts

     1,880,468    
  

 

 

 

Liabilities

  

Forward Contracts

  

Commodity

     (341,019)   

Currencies

     (1,823,265)   
  

 

 

 

Total unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

     (2,164,284)   
  

 

 

 

Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts

     $                 (283,816)  ** 
  

 

 

 

 

  *

This amount is in “Net unrealized depreciation on open futures contracts” in the Statements of Financial Condition.

 

  **

This amount is in “Net unrealized depreciation on open forward contracts” in the Statements of Financial Condition.

The following table indicates the trading gains and losses, by market sector, on derivative instruments for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

 

Sector                                     

   2019     2018     2017  

Commodity

     $     (9,168,467)      $ (4,944,164)      $ (671,410)   

Equity

     15,551,437        (6,517,413)        27,931,380    

Currencies

     (658,803)        (4,275,072)        (10,774,286)   

Interest Rates

     12,920,788         (2,075,939)        (5,786,047)   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total

     $     18,644,955   ***      $   (17,812,588)  ***      $     10,699,637   *** 
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

*** This amount is in “Total trading results” in the Statements of Income and Expenses.

 

52


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

6.

Fair Value Measurements:

Partnership’s Fair Value Measurements. Fair value is defined as the value that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date under current market conditions. The fair value hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to fair values derived from unobservable inputs (Level 3). The level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurement in its entirety falls shall be determined based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety.

The fair value of exchange-traded futures, forward and option contracts is determined by the various exchanges, and reflects the settlement price for each contract as of the close of business on the last business day of the reporting period. The fair value of foreign currency forward contracts is extrapolated on a forward basis from the spot prices quoted as of approximately 3:00 P.M. (E.T.) on the last business day of the reporting period from various exchanges. The fair value of non-exchange-traded foreign currency option contracts is calculated by applying an industry standard model application for options valuation of foreign currency options, using as input the spot prices, interest rates and option implied volatilities quoted as of approximately 3:00 P.M. (E.T.) on the last business day of the reporting period. U.S. Treasury bills are valued at the last available bid price received from independent pricing services as of the close of the last business day of the reporting period.

The Partnership considers prices for commodity futures, swap and option contracts to be based on unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1). The values of U.S. Treasury bills, non-exchange-traded forward, swap and certain option contracts for which market quotations are not readily available are priced by pricing services that derive fair values for those assets and liabilities from observable inputs (Level 2). As of and for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Partnership did not hold any derivative instruments that were priced at fair value using unobservable inputs through the application of the General Partner’s assumptions and internal valuation pricing models (Level 3).

 

December 31, 2019

   Total    Level 1    Level 2    Level 3

Assets

           

Futures

     $ 2,519,269        $         2,519,269        $ -            $                 -      

Forwards

     766,007        -            766,007        -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Total assets

     $ 3,285,276        $ 2,519,269        $ 766,007        $ -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Liabilities

           

Futures

     $ 3,106,978        $ 3,106,978        $ -            $  -      

Forwards

     2,027,918        -            2,027,918        -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     $             5,134,896        $ 3,106,978        $       2,027,918        $ -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

December 31, 2018

   Total    Level 1    Level 2    Level 3

Assets

           

Futures

     $ 3,370,017        $ 3,370,017        $ -            $ -      

Forwards

     1,880,468        -            1,880,468        -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Total assets

     $             5,250,485        $ 3,370,017        $ 1,880,468        $ -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Liabilities

           

Futures

     $ 4,422,974        $ 4,422,974        $ -            $ -      

Forwards

     2,164,284        -            2,164,284        -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     $ 6,587,258        $       4,422,974        $       2,164,284        $                 -      
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

53


Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.

Notes to Financial Statements

 

7.

Financial Highlights:

Financial highlights for the limited partner class as a whole for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 were as follows:

     2019     2018     2017  
         Class A             Class A             Class A      

Per Unit Performance (for a unit outstanding throughout the year):*

      

Net realized and unrealized gains (losses)

     $ 4.56         $ (3.72)        $ 2.17    

Net investment loss

     (0.81)        (0.96)        (1.09)   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Increase (decrease) for the year

     3.75         (4.68)        1.08    

Net asset value per Unit, beginning of year

     18.46         23.14         22.06    
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net asset value per Unit, end of year

     $ 22.21         $ 18.46         $ 23.14    
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 
     2019     2018     2017  
         Class A             Class A             Class A      

Ratios to Average Limited Partners’ Capital:

      

Net investment loss **

     (3.9)      (4.6)      (5.1) 
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses

     5.4       5.9       5.8  

Incentive fees

     -             -             -        
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total expenses

     5.4       5.9       5.8  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total return:

      

Total return before incentive fees

     20.3       (20.2)      4.9  

Incentive fees

     -             -             -        
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total return after incentive fees

                     20.3                      (20.2)                      4.9 
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

*

Net investment loss per Unit is calculated by dividing the interest income less total expenses by the average number of Units outstanding during the year. The net realized and unrealized gains (losses) per Unit is a balancing amount necessary to reconcile the change in net asset value per Unit with the other per unit information.

 

**

Interest income less total expenses.

The above ratios and total return may vary for individual investors based on the timing of capital transactions during the year. Additionally, these ratios are calculated for the limited partner class using the limited partners’ share of income, expenses and average partners’ capital of the Partnership.

 

8.

Subsequent Events:

The General Partner evaluates events that occur after the balance sheet date but before and up until financial statements are available to be issued. The General Partner has assessed the subsequent events through the date the financial statements were issued and has determined that there were no subsequent events requiring adjustment to or disclosure in the financial statements.

 

54


Selected unaudited quarterly financial data for the Partnership for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 are summarized below:

 

     For the period from
October 1, 2019 to
December 31, 2019
  For the period from
July 1, 2019 to
September 30, 2019
  For the period from
April 1, 2019 to
June 30, 2019
  For the period from
January 1, 2019 to
March 31, 2019

Interest income

     $ 249,740       $ 317,882       $ 332,267       $ 344,031  

Total expenses

     (1,181,841     (1,165,273     (1,089,663     (1,067,377

Total trading results

     (2,206,949     10,156,554       5,287,695       5,407,655  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income (loss)

     $ (3,139,050     $ 9,309,163       $ 4,530,299       $ 4,684,309  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Increase (decrease) in net asset value per Unit:

        

Class A

     $ (0.83     $ 2.35       $ 1.10       $ 1.13  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Z

     $                     (0.30)       $                     1.01       $                     0.50       $                     0.50  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     For the period from
October 1, 2018 to
December 31, 2018
   For the period from
July 1, 2018 to
September 30, 2018
   For the period from
April 1, 2018 to
June 30, 2018
   For the period from
January 1, 2018 to
March 31, 2018

Interest income

     $ 359,889        $ 346,287        $ 342,732        $ 327,985  

Total expenses

     (1,364,612)        (1,460,726)        (1,556,441)        (1,725,603)  

Total trading results

     (15,647,928)        6,818,858        (1,640,731)        (7,342,787)  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Net income (loss)

     $ (16,652,651)        $ 5,704,419        $ (2,854,440)        $ (8,740,405)  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Increase (decrease) in net asset value per Unit:

           

Class A

     $ (3.62)        $ 1.19        $ (0.57)        $ (1.68)  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Class Z

     $                         (1.43)        $                     0.52        $                     (0.19)        $                     (0.62)  
  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.

Not applicable.

 

55


Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

The Partnership’s disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Partnership on the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods expected in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Partnership in the reports it files is accumulated and communicated to management, including the President (the General Partner’s principal executive officer) and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) (the General Partner’s principal financial officer) of the General Partner, to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosure and appropriate SEC filings.

The General Partner is responsible for ensuring that there is an adequate and effective process for establishing, maintaining and evaluating disclosure controls and procedures for the Partnership’s external disclosures.

The General Partner’s President and CFO have evaluated the effectiveness of the Partnership’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2019 and, based on that evaluation, the General Partner’s President and CFO have concluded that, at that date, the Partnership’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

The Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting is a process under the supervision of the General Partner’s President and CFO to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP. These controls include policies and procedures that:

 

  ·  

pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Partnership;

 

  ·  

provide reasonable assurance that (i) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and (ii) the Partnership’s receipts are handled and expenditures are made only pursuant to authorizations of the General Partner; and

 

  ·  

provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection and correction of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Partnership’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

The Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2019, included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”, includes the General Partner’s report on internal control over financial reporting.

There were no changes in the Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019, that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information.

Certain impacts to public health conditions particular to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that occurred subsequent to year end could impact the operations and financial performance of the Partnership investments. The extent of the impact to the financial performance of the Partnership investments will depend on future developments, including (i) the duration and spread of the outbreak, (ii) the restrictions and advisories, (iii) the effects on the financial markets, and (iv) the effects on the economy overall, all of which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. If the financial performance of the Partnership investments is impacted because of these factors for an extended period, the Partnership performance may be adversely affected.

 

56


PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.

The Partnership has no directors or executive officers and its affairs are managed by its General Partner. Investment decisions are made by the Trading Advisor.

The directors and executive officers of the General Partner are Patrick T. Egan (President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Partner), Steven Ross (Chief Financial Officer and Director), Matthew R. Graver (Director) and Etsuko Jennings (Director). Each director holds office until the earlier of his or her death, resignation or removal. Vacancies on the board of directors may be filled by either (i) the majority vote of the remaining directors or (ii) MSD Holdings, as the sole member of the General Partner. The officers of the General Partner are designated by the General Partner’s board of directors. Each officer will hold office until his or her successor is designated and qualified or until his or her death, resignation or removal.

Directors of the General Partner are responsible for overall corporate governance of the General Partner and meet periodically to consider strategic decisions regarding the General Partner’s activities. Under CFTC rules, each Director of the General Partner is deemed to be a principal of the General Partner and, as a result, is listed as such with NFA. Patrick T. Egan and Steven Ross serve on the General Partner’s Investment Committee and are the trading principals responsible for allocation decisions (or supervising those responsible).

Patrick T. Egan, age 51, has been a Director of the General Partner since December 2010. Since December 2010, Mr. Egan has been a principal and registered as an associated person of the General Partner, and is an associate member of NFA. Since October 2014, Mr. Egan has served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Partner. Since August 2013, Mr. Egan has been registered as a swap associated person of the General Partner. From September 2013 to May 2014, Mr. Egan served as a Vice President of Morgan Stanley Strategies LLC, formerly known as Morgan Stanley GWM Feeder Strategies LLC, which acts as a general partner to multiple alternative investment entities, and Morgan Stanley AI GP LLC, formerly known as Morgan Stanley HedgePremier GP LLC, which acts as a general partner and administrative agent to numerous hedge fund feeder funds. From September 2013 to May 2014, Mr. Egan was registered as an associated person and listed as a principal of each such entity. Since January 2013, each such entity has been registered as a commodity pool operator with the CFTC. Mr. Egan was responsible for overseeing the implementation of certain CFTC and NFA regulatory requirements applicable to such entities. From June 2009 to December 2014, Mr. Egan was employed by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, a financial services firm, where his responsibilities included serving as Executive Director and as Co-Chief Investment Officer for Morgan Stanley Managed Futures from June 2009 through June 2011 and as Chief Risk Officer for Morgan Stanley Managed Futures from June 2011 through October 2014. Since October 2014, Mr. Egan has been responsible for the day-to-day operations and management of Morgan Stanley Managed Futures. Since January 2015, Mr. Egan has been employed by the General Partner. From November 2010 to October 2014, Mr. Egan was registered as an associated person of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. From April 2007 through June 2009, Mr. Egan was employed by MS & Co., a financial services firm, where his responsibilities included serving as Head of Due Diligence and Manager Research for Morgan Stanley’s Managed Futures Department. From April 2007 through June 2009, Mr. Egan was registered as an associated person of MS & Co. From March 1993 through April 2007, Mr. Egan was employed by Morgan Stanley DW Inc., a financial services firm, where his initial responsibilities included serving as an analyst and manager within the Managed Futures Department (with primary responsibilities for product development, due diligence, investment analysis and risk management of the firm’s commodity pools) and later included serving as Head of Due Diligence and Manager Research for Morgan Stanley’s Managed Futures Department. From February 1998 through April 2007, Mr. Egan was registered as an associated person of Morgan Stanley DW Inc. From August 1991 through March 1993, Mr. Egan was employed by Dean Witter Intercapital, the asset management arm of Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., where his responsibilities included serving as a mutual fund administration associate. Mr. Egan also served as a Director from November 2004 through October 2006, and from November 2006 through October 2008 of the Managed Funds Association’s Board of Directors, a position he was elected to by industry peers for two consecutive two-year terms. Mr. Egan earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance in May 1991 from the University of Notre Dame.

 

57


Steven Ross, age 48, has been Chief Financial Officer and a principal of the General Partner since July 2014 and a Director of the General Partner since February 2016. Mr. Ross has been employed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management, a financial services firm, since September 2005, where his responsibilities include serving as an Assistant Treasurer of Morgan Stanley with respect to certain investment vehicles publicly offered by Morgan Stanley. Mr. Ross is also an Executive Director of the Morgan Stanley Fund Administration Group where he is responsible for finance and accounting matters for certain private funds offered by Morgan Stanley. Before joining Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Mr. Ross was employed by JPMorgan Investor Services Co., a financial services firm, from December 1997 through September 2005, where his responsibilities included serving as a Vice President responsible for the accounting of certain funds sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other large fund families serviced by JPMorgan Investor Services Co. From April 1997 to December 1997, Mr. Ross was employed by Investors Bank & Trust, a financial services firm, where his responsibilities included performing mutual fund accounting for financial services firms. Mr. Ross began his career at Putnam Investments LLC, a financial services firm, where he was responsible for providing broker services for certain funds sponsored by Putnam Investments LLC from August 1996 to April 1997. Mr. Ross received a B.S. in Accounting from Rhode Island College in May 1995.

Matthew R. Graver, age 52, has been a Director of the General Partner and listed as a principal since November 2016. Since January 2008, Mr. Graver has served as Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, a financial services firm, and Chief Operating Officer for Morgan Stanley AIP Fund of Hedge Funds, a business unit offering managed portfolios of hedge funds. Since November 2015, Mr. Graver has been listed as a principal and director of Morgan Stanley AIP Cayman GP Ltd., a commodity pool operator. From January 2005 to January 2008, Mr. Graver served as Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and from August 2003 to January 2005, Mr. Graver served as Vice President of Morgan Stanley Investment Management. From August 2003 to January 2008, Mr. Graver’s primary responsibilities included serving as Head of Operational Due Diligence for Morgan Stanley AIP Fund of Hedge Funds in which role he oversaw due diligence into operational factors of alternative investment entities. From July 1997 to July 2003, Mr. Graver was employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an international auditing and professional services firm, where he served as a senior audit manager and was responsible for managing independent audits of financial services firms. From June 1993 to June 1997, Mr. Graver was employed by PNC Bank, a bank offering consumer and corporate services, where he served as a mutual fund accounting manager and was responsible for managing an accounting team that performed daily accounting functions and valuation calculations for a group of mutual funds. From July 1989 through June 1993, Mr. Graver was employed by Coopers & Lybrand LLP, a predecessor accounting firm to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he was a senior audit associate and was responsible for performing audits of financial services firms. Mr. Graver earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in May 1989 from Pennsylvania State University and Masters of Business Administration from Villanova University in May 2002.

Etsuko Jennings, age 61, has been a Director of the General Partner since September 2018. She has been a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management since January 2007 and is currently head of the Operational Risk group for Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Global Risk and Analysis division, responsible for ongoing analysis as well as reporting and mitigation of operational risk. She joined Morgan Stanley in 1985 and has approximately 22 years of investment experience. Previously, she managed a variety of strategic initiatives in the Global Operations group. Before that, Ms. Jennings was a member of the firm’s IT department in New York, Tokyo and London where she developed and managed trading and accounting systems. She received a B.A. from Keio University’s School of Letters/International Program in Japan and an M.A. in international relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Partnership has not adopted a code of ethics that applies to officers because it has no officers. In addition, the Partnership has not adopted any procedures by which investors may recommend nominees to the Partnership’s board of directors and has not established an audit committee because it has no board of directors.

 

58


Item 11. Executive Compensation.

The Partnership has no directors and executive officers. As a limited partnership, the business of the Partnership is managed by Ceres, which is responsible for the administration of the business affairs of the Partnership. The Partnership pays Ceres an administrative and General Partner’s fee equal to an annual rate of 2.0% (paid monthly) of the Partnership’s net assets as of the first day of each month.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.

 

  (a)

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners – As of February 29, 2020, the Partnership knows of no person who beneficially owns more than 5% of the Units outstanding.

 

  (b)

Security Ownership of Management – Under the terms of the Limited Partnership Agreement, the Partnership’s affairs are managed by the General Partner. The following table indicates securities owned by management as of December 31, 2019:

 

(1) Title of Class  

(2) Name of

Beneficial

Owner

 

(3) Amount and

Nature of

Beneficial

Ownership

 

(4) Percent of

Class

Class Z Units

  General Partner   101,536.878   100%

 

  (c)

Changes in Control – None.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

 

  (a)

Transactions with Related Persons. None.

 

  (b)

Review, Approval or Ratification of Transactions with Related Persons. Not applicable.

 

  (c)

Promoters and Certain Control Persons. MS&Co., Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and the General Partner could be considered promoters for purposes of Item 404(c) of Regulation S-K. The nature and the amounts of compensation each promoter received or will receive, if any, from the Partnership are set forth under “Item 1. Business.”, “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” and “Item 11. Executive Compensation.”

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.

Ceres, on behalf of the Partnership, pays all accounting fees. The Partnership reimburses Ceres through the administrative and General Partner’s fees it pays, as discussed in the Notes to Financial Statements in the Annual Report to the limited partners for the year ended December 31, 2019.

(1) Audit Fees. The aggregate fees billed for each of the last two fiscal years for professional services rendered by Ernst & Young LLP (“EY”) for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 for the audit of the Partnership’s annual financial statements, review of financial statements included in the Partnership’s Forms 10-Q and 10-K and other services normally provided in connection with regulatory filings or engagements were:

 

2019     $70,000  
2018     $70,000  

(2) Audit-Related Fees. None.

(3) Tax Fees. The Partnership did not pay EY any amounts in 2019 and 2018 for professional services in connection with tax compliance, tax advice, and tax planning.

(4) All Other Fees. None.

(5) Not Applicable.

(6) Not Applicable.

 

59


PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.

 

(a)

(1) Financial Statements:

Statements of Financial Condition at December 31, 2019 and 2018.

Condensed Schedule of Investments at December 31, 2019 and 2018.

Statements of Income and Expenses for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Statements of Changes in Partners’ Capital for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Notes to Financial Statements.

(2) Exhibits:

 

   3.01   

Eighth Amended and Restated Limited Partnership Agreement, dated as of December 1, 2017, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 4, 2017.

   3.02   

Certificate of Limited Partnership, dated July 15, 1998, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.02 of the Partnership’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-60115) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 29, 1998.

   3.03   

Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Limited Partnership, dated November 1, 2001 (changing its name from Dean Witter Graham L.P.), is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.01 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2001.

   3.04   

Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Limited Partnership, dated June 1, 2009 (changing the name and mailing address of the general partner of the Partnership), is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.04 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 4, 2009.

   3.05   

Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Limited Partnership, dated September 29, 2009, (changing its name from Morgan Stanley Charter Graham L.P. to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Charter Graham L.P.), is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.05 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 5, 2009.

   3.06   

Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Limited Partnership, dated August 23, 2010, (changing its name from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Charter Graham L.P. to Managed Futures Charter Graham L.P.), is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 99.31 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 31, 2010.

   3.07   

Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Limited Partnership, dated November 30, 2012, (changing its name from Managed Futures Charter Graham L.P. to Managed Futures Premier Graham L.P.) is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 5, 2012.

   4.01   

Description of Securities (filed herewith).

   10.01   

Management Agreement, dated as of November 6, 1998, among the Partnership, the General Partner, and Graham Capital Management, L.P., is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.01 of the Partnership’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 17, 1999.

   10.01(a)   

Amendment No.  1 to Management Agreement, dated as of April 1, 2014, among the Partnership, the General Partner and Graham Capital Management, L.P., is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.01 of the Partnership’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13, 2014.

   10.01(b)   

Amendment No.  2 to Management Agreement, dated January  29, 2019, among the Partnership, the General Partner and Graham Capital Management, L.P., is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 7, 2019.

 

60


  

10.02

  

Form of Subscription and Exchange Agreement and Power of Attorney to be expected by each purchaser of Units is incorporated by reference from Exhibit B of the Partnership’s Prospectus, dated May 1, 2008, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, on May 6, 2008.

  

10.03

  

Escrow Agreement, dated as of July 25, 2007, among The Bank of New York, the General Partner, and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.04 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 31, 2007.

  

10.04

  

Amended and Restated Customer Agreement between the Partnership and Morgan Stanley DW, dated as of November 13, 2000, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.01 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2001.

  

10.04(a)

  

Amendment No.  1 to the Amended and Restated Customer Agreement between the Partnership and Morgan Stanley DW Inc. is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.05(a) of the Partnership’s Form 10-Q (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 10, 2005.

  

10.04(b)

  

Amendment No.  1 to the Customer Agreement between the Partnership and Morgan Stanley DW Inc., dated July 1, 2005, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.05(b) of the Partnership’s Form 10-Q (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 12, 2005.

  

10.05

  

Amended and Restated Commodity Futures Customer Agreement, between MS&Co. and the Funds listed on Appendix A thereto, dated as of November 12, 2013, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.01 of the Partnership’s Form 10-Q (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 13, 2013.

  

10.06

  

Customer Agreement between the Partnership and MSIP, dated as of November 6, 2000, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.04 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2001.

  

10.07

  

Foreign Exchange and Options Master Agreement between MS&Co. and the Partnership, dated as of August 30, 1999, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.05 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2001.

  

10.08

  

Securities Account Control Agreement among the Partnership and MS&Co. dated as of May 1, 2000, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.03 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2001.

  

10.09

  

Amended and Restated Alternative Investment Selling Agent Agreement, dated as of March 3, 2016, by and among the General Partner, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and the partnerships listed on Schedule 1 thereto, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8, 2016.

  

10.10

  

U.S. Treasury Securities Purchase Authorization Agreement, effective as of June 1, 2015, by and among MS&Co. and the Partnership, is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 4, 2015.

  

10.11

  

Amended and Restated Master Services Agreement, effective as of March 15, 2015, by and among SS&C Technologies, Inc., the General Partner and each of the collective investment vehicles listed in Schedule C thereto, is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2015.

  

10.12

  

Supplement, dated as of July 25, 2017, to the Commodity Futures Customer Agreement, between MS&Co. and the Funds listed on Appendix A thereto, dated as of November 12, 2013, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 31, 2017.

  

10.13

  

Escrow Agreement, dated August 17, 2017, by and among Ceres Managed Futures LLC, the funds listed on Schedule A thereto, UMB Fund Services, Inc., and UMB Bank, N.A., as amended, dated September 5, 2017, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 8, 2017.

  

10.14

  

Transfer Agency Agreement, dated as of August 17, 2017, by and between Ceres Managed Futures LLC, the funds listed on Schedule A thereto, and UMB Fund Services, Inc., as amended, dated September 5, 2017, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.2 of the Partnership’s Form 8-K (File No. 0-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 8, 2017.

 

61


  

10.15

  

Alternative Investment Selling Agent Agreement, dated as of November 1, 2018, by and among Ceres Managed Futures LLC, Harbor Investment Advisory, LLC, Morgan Stanley Distribution Inc., and the limited partnerships listed on Schedule 1 thereto, is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 of the Partnership’s Form 10-Q (File No. 000-25603) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 8, 2018.

The exhibits required to be filed by Item 601 of Regulations S-K are incorporated herein by reference.

31.1 — Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification (Certification of President and Director).

31.2 — Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification (Certification of Chief Financial Officer and Director).

32.1 — Section 1350 Certification (Certification of President and Director).

32.2 — Section  1350 Certification (Certification of Chief Financial Officer and Director).

101.INS XBRL Instance Document.

101.SCH XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.

101.CAL XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.

101.LAB XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.

101.PRE XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.

101.DEF XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Document.

 

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

MANAGED FUTURES PREMIER GRAHAM L.P.
By:   Ceres Managed Futures LLC
  (General Partner)
By:  

/s/ Patrick T. Egan

  Patrick T. Egan
  President and Director
  Date: March 26, 2020

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

/s/ Patrick T. Egan

   

/s/ Matthew R. Graver

 

Patrick T. Egan

   

Matthew R. Graver

 

President and Director

   

Director

 

Ceres Managed Futures LLC

   

Ceres Managed Futures LLC

 

Date: March 26, 2020

   

Date: March 26, 2020

 

/s/ Steven Ross

   

/s/ Etsuko Jennings

 

Steven Ross

   

Etsuko Jennings

 

Chief Financial Officer and Director

   

Director

 

(Principal Accounting Officer)

   

Ceres Managed Futures LLC

 

Ceres Managed Futures LLC

   

Date: March 26, 2020

 

Date: March 26, 2020

     

Supplemental Information to be Furnished With Reports Filed Pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act by Registrants Which Have Not Registered Securities Pursuant to Section 12 of the Act.

Annual Report to limited partners.

No proxy material has been sent to limited partners.

 

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