UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

☒ 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

 

Commission File Number: 000-50725

 

NESTOR PARTNERS

 

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

New Jersey		22-2149317
(State or other jurisdiction of		(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)		Identification No.)

 

c/o MILLBURN RIDGEFIELD CORPORATION

55 West 46th Street, 31st Floor

New York, New York 10036

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:   (212) 332-7300

 

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

 

Title of each class		Trading Symbol(s)		Name of each exchange on which registered
none		none		none

 

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

(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 ☒

 

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 ☒

 

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 ☒ 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 ☒ 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   ☐	Smaller reporting company ☒
	Emerging growth company ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

  

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. ☐

 

State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

 

Not applicable.

 

Documents Incorporated by Reference

 

Registrant’s Financial Statements for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 and Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, the annual report to security holders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, is incorporated by reference into Part II Item 8 and Part IV hereof and filed as an exhibit herewith.

 

 

PART I

 

Preamble:  In reliance on the March 4, 2020 Securities and Exchange Commission Order under Section 36 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Granting Exemptions from Specified Provisions of the Exchange Act and Certain Rules Thereunder, the Partnership delayed the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, originally due Monday, March 30, 2020. The primary reasons for the delay were the combination of extreme market volatility, necessitating an unprecedented amount of attention of the General Partner’s accounting staff to trade reconciliation and settlement related matters, and the simultaneous strain on the rest of the General Partner’s personnel as a result of government agency-suggested/mandated isolations and a resulting remote/work-from-home environment, the combination of which has reduced the efficiency of the General Partner as well as of third party service providers and the accessibility of timely information for the Partnership.

 

Item 1.

Business

 

(a)

General development of business

 

Nestor Partners (the “Partnership”) is a limited partnership organized December 13, 1976 under the New Jersey Uniform Limited Partnership Act. The general partner of the Partnership is Millburn Ridgefield Corporation, a Delaware corporation operating in New York, New York (the “General Partner”).

 

The Partnership’s business is trading a diversified portfolio (a “Diversified Portfolio”) of futures, forward, swap, spot and option contracts on currencies, metals, interest rate instruments, stock indices, energy and agricultural commodities.  The General Partner invests globally pursuant to its proprietary quantitative and systematic trading methodology, based upon signals generated from an analysis from price, price derivatives, fundamental and other quantitative data.  Approximately 20% - 30% of the Partnership’s trading, measured by the General Partner’s assessment of risk, currently takes place in the currency markets.  The Partnership began its trading activities in February 1977.  All investment decisions are made by the General Partner.

 

The General Partner was organized in May 1982 to manage discretionary accounts in futures and forward markets.  It and its principals have been trading in the futures and forwards markets pursuant to systematic quantitative, trading and risk management methods since 1971.  The General Partner has been registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) as a commodity pool operator (“CPO”) since July 1, 1982, as a commodity trading advisor (“CTA”) since September 13, 1984 and has been a member of the National Futures Association (the “NFA”) since July 1, 1982.   The General Partner has been an approved swaps firm with the NFA since December 26, 2012. The Millburn Corporation, a former affiliate of the General Partner that, prior to January 1, 2019, performed research, trading, technology, operations, marketing, accounting, tax, legal, compliance, human resources, and other administrative functions for the Partnership and other commodity pools and investment partnerships managed by the General Partner, merged with and into the General Partner on December 31, 2018, and the General Partner now performs the functions formerly performed by The Millburn Corporation. 

 

As of December 31, 2019, the aggregate net asset value of the Partnership was $154,926,950.  The value at December 31, 2019 of a limited partner’s initial $1,000 investment in the Partnership on February 1, 1977 would be $61,854.54, based on the actual rate of return a limited partner’s investment in the Partnership would have recognized, net of the highest charges applicable to a limited partner, during each month in the calculation period from February 1, 1977 to December 31, 2019.

 

The Partnership’s fiscal year ends on December 31.

 

The Partnership will terminate upon the prior withdrawal, insolvency or dissolution of the General Partner or occurrence of any event legally requiring termination.

 

The Partnership is not a registered investment company or mutual fund. Accordingly, investors in the Partnership do not have the protections afforded by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. 

 

(c)

Narrative description of business

 

The Partnership engages in the speculative trading of futures, forward and spot contracts and may trade options thereon as well as swap contracts.  The Partnership’s sole trading advisor is the General Partner.  The Partnership trades, pursuant to the General Partner’s Diversified Portfolio, in the agricultural, metals, energy, interest rate and stock indices futures markets and in the currency markets, trading primarily forward contracts in the interbank market.  The General Partner makes its systematically-based trading decisions pursuant to its investment and trading methodology, based on signals generated from an analysis of price, price derivatives, fundamental and other quantitative data, as well as incorporating money management principles, each of which may be revised from time to time. The objective of the General Partner’s investment and trading methods is to consider these multiple data inputs, or “factors,” in order to arrive at relatively near-term return forecasts for each traded instrument and take appropriate risk-managed positions.

 

 

Trades generated by quantitative models may be profitable or unprofitable. The General Partner’s objective is to have the profits from its profitable trades offset and exceed losses from its unprofitable trades. During periods in which market behavior differs significantly from that analyzed to build the models, or periods where data inputs important to predicting price movements were not included in those analyzed to build the models, substantial losses are possible, and even likely.

  

The General Partner is engaged in an ongoing research effort to improve its investment and trading methods and to apply its quantitative analytic expertise to new financial products.

 

Successful systematic futures and forward trading depends on several elements. Two of the main factors are the development and selection of the trading systems used in each market and the allocation of portfolio risk among the markets available for trading.

 

Market environments change over time, and particular systems may perform well in one environment but poorly in another. Likewise, market sectors and individual markets go through periods where systematic trading is very profitable and other periods where no system is able to generate any profits.

 

The goal of the General Partner’s research has been to develop and select a mix of systems in each market and to allocate risk across a wide array of markets, so as to contain overall portfolio risk within a targeted range, while allowing exposure to profitable opportunities.

 

Over more than 48 years, the General Partner and its predecessor entities have developed hundreds of trading systems. These trading systems generate buy or sell decisions in a particular market based on the analysis of price movements in the market, some non-price information or a combination of both.

 

Of course, systems can be materially different — better in some periods and worse in others. The main distinguishing features are: the time frame over which systems work (intra-day to long-term); the granularity of data fed into them (tick data to daily, weekly or monthly frequencies); the amount of data used to learn the market structure; the statistical or technical methods used to make forecasts; the type of data (market or economic statistics); and the source of data (cash, futures, forward or option markets-generated data or government and industry-generated statistical information). No single approach will work all the time. Therefore, the General Partner’s objective is to have several approaches and several data inputs operating in conjunction with one another.

 

When arriving at the portfolio allocation, the General Partner generally seeks maximum diversification, subject to liquidity and sector concentration constraints and subject to the mandate of the strategy. Each market is traded using a diversified set of model inputs, which may be optimized for groups of markets, sectors or specific markets. The markets traded and allocations are reviewed at least monthly, although changes may occur more or less frequently. The following factors, among others, are considered in constructing a universe of markets to trade for the Partnership: profitability, liquidity of markets, professional judgment, desired diversification, transaction costs, exchange regulations and depth of markets. The current allocation to any market in the Partnership’s portfolio does not exceed 3.0% of total market exposure, measured by risk allocation.

 

Risk is a function of both price level and price volatility. For example, for any given level of volatility, a 100,000 barrel crude oil position is worth more and is, therefore, probably more risky with oil at $90 per barrel than with oil at $50 per barrel. Similarly, oil would be more risky if prices are moving in a 5% daily range than if prices are moving in a 1% daily range. The General Partner sizes the position in each market taking into account its measurement of risk based on price level and volatility in that market. Market exposure is then managed by the position-sizing models which measure the risk in the portfolio’s position in each market. In the event the model determines that the risk has changed beyond an acceptable threshold, it will signal a change in the position — a decrease in position size when risk increases and an increase in position size when risk decreases. The General Partner’s position-sizing models maintain overall portfolio risk and distribution of risk across markets within designated ranges. The position-sizing model manages the position traded by each of the (directional) trading systems discussed above.

   

In addition, the General Partner’s risk management processes focus on money management principles applicable to the portfolio as a whole rather than to individual markets. The first principle is portfolio diversification, which attempts to improve the quality of profits by reducing volatility.

 

Additional money management principles applicable to the portfolio as a whole include: (1) limiting the assets committed as margin or collateral, generally within a range of 5% to 35% of an account’s net assets, though the amount may at any time be substantially higher or lower and (2) prohibiting pyramiding — that is, using unrealized profits in a particular market as margin for additional positions solely in the same market.

 

Another important risk management function is the careful control of leverage or total portfolio exposure.  Leverage levels are determined by simulating the entire portfolio — all markets, all systems, all risk control models, the exact weightings of the markets in the portfolio and the proposed level of leverage — over the past five or ten years to determine the portfolio’s simulated risk and return characteristics as well as the worst case experienced by the portfolio in the simulation period.  The worst case, or peak-to-trough drawdown, is measured from a daily high in portfolio assets to the subsequent daily low whether that occurs days, weeks or months after the daily high.  If the General Partner considers the drawdown too severe or the portfolio’s simulated volatility too high, it can reduce the leverage or total portfolio exposure.  There are, however, no restrictions on the amount of leverage the Partnership may use at any given time.

 

 

Decisions whether to trade a particular market require the exercise of judgment. The decision not to trade certain markets for certain periods, or to reduce the size of a position in a particular market, may result at times in missing significant profit opportunities.

 

In some cases, the General Partner employs discretion in the execution of trades where trader expertise plays a role in timing of orders and, from time to time, the General Partner may adjust the size of a position, long or short, in any given market indicated by its systematic trading strategies. This exercise of discretion (other than in trade execution) has historically been very rare and would generally occur only in response to unusual market conditions that may not have been factored into the design of the trading systems. Such adjustments would be done with the intention of reducing risk exposures as opposed to seeking additional risk. Decisions to make such adjustments also require the exercise of judgment and may include consideration of the volatility of the particular market; the pattern of price movements, both inter-day and intra-day; open interest; volume of trading; changes in spread relationships between various forward contracts; and overall portfolio balance and risk exposure.

 

Pursuant to the Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership (the “Limited Partnership Agreement”), the General Partner receives in respect of limited partners who acquire their limited partnership interests (“Interests”) through selling agents, a fixed monthly brokerage fee equal to 0.375% of the Partnership’s month-end net assets (4.5% per annum) attributable to such limited partners’ capital accounts. To the extent set forth in a limited partner’s subscription agreement, a limited partner introduced by certain selling agents may also be required to pay to such selling agent an upfront selling commission of up to 2% of the amount invested in the Partnership. Any such selling commission will be deducted by the selling agent directly from the amount intended to be invested in the Partnership and will therefore not be considered in calculating the profit share as described below. In respect of limited partners who acquire their Interests through the General Partner or an “Advisory Program,” an asset-based fee or fixed fee advisory program through which an investment adviser recommends a portfolio allocation to the Partnership, the General Partner receives brokerage commissions at a fixed monthly rate of 0.146% of the Partnership’s month-end net assets (1.75% per annum) attributable to such limited partner’s capital account plus an amount equal to the brokerage commissions and fees payable to clearing and executing brokers attributable to each such limited partners’ proportionate interest in the Partnership. The General Partner in turn bears all such brokerage commissions and fees payable to clearing and executing brokers as well as any compensation payable to selling agents in the form of installment selling commissions. The General Partner also receives a profit share equal to 20% of any new trading profit, determined as of the end of each calendar year. The annual profit share is calculated net of brokerage fees and administrative expenses.

 

The Partnership pays its administrative expenses, including costs incurred in connection with the continuing offering of the Interests, up to ¼ of 1% per annum of the Partnership’s average month-end assets, and any extraordinary expenses which it may incur.

   

SG Americas Securities, LLC (“SG Americas”), Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (“Deutsche Bank”) and BofA Securities Inc. (“BofA”) currently act as the futures brokers for the Partnership. The Partnership also currently executes currency forward trades with Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America, N.A., which serve as the Partnership’s prime brokers for such trades. At the present time, the Partnership clears its currency forward trades with Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America, N.A. The Partnership pays “bid ask” spreads on its forward trades, as such spreads are incorporated into the pricing of forward contracts. The General Partner monitors the Partnership’s trades to ensure that the prices it receives are competitive.

 

Each partner has a capital account, and its initial balance is the amount of his contribution to the Partnership. There is also a new profit memo account which is credited with the General Partner’s profit share on redeemed Interests and any excess of the General Partner’s profit share over the Partnership’s taxable gains at year-end. The net assets of the Partnership are determined monthly, and any increase or decrease from the end of the preceding month is added to or subtracted from the accounts (including the new profit memo account) of the partners in the ratio that each account bears to all accounts. The credits to the new profit memo account are charged to the accounts of the limited partners.

 

At the end of each fiscal year, the Partnership’s taxable capital gain or loss (including gains and losses on open positions in certain futures and forward contracts which are “marked-to-market” at the end of the Partnership’s fiscal year) and ordinary income and expense are allocated among the partners for tax purposes, and each partner who is a United States (“U.S.”) citizen or resident is required to include on his personal income tax return his distributive share of such items. Items of operating income such as interest and items of operating expense such as legal, accounting and filing fees that accrued during each month will be allocated among the persons who were partners during each month in the ratio that each partner’s capital account bears to all partners’ capital accounts.

 

Net capital gain is allocated first to the General Partner up to the amount of the General Partner’s profit share for the year and then up to the amount of any balance in the new profit memo account. Net capital gain is next allocated to each partner who has redeemed all or a portion of his Interests during the year to the extent that the amount received on redemption exceeds the partner’s tax basis (“tax basis”). A partner’s tax basis is the amount paid for the Interests redeemed plus net taxable income less taxable losses previously allocated to such Interests and less amounts previously distributed to the partner with respect to the redeemed Interests. Remaining net capital gain is allocated among the partners whose capital accounts have increased from their tax basis. The allocation to each partner is in the ratio that his increase bears to all partners’ increases. Net capital gain remaining is allocated to each partner in the ratio that his capital account value bears to the total capital account value of all partners.

 

Net capital loss is allocated first to each partner who has redeemed all or a portion of his Interests during the year to the extent that the amount the partner’s tax basis for the Interests redeemed exceeds the amount received on redemption. Remaining net taxable capital loss is allocated among the partners whose capital accounts have decreased from their tax basis. The allocation to each partner is in the ratio that his decrease bears to all partners’ decreases. Net capital loss remaining is allocated to each partner in the ratio that his capital account value bears to the total capital account value of all partners.

 

 

The General Partner estimates that 90% or more of the Partnership’s assets, including the assets used to satisfy margin and collateral requirements, will be invested in U.S. government securities or securities issued by federal agencies (or, to a limited extent, foreign government securities in connection with trading on non-U.S. exchanges), other CFTC-authorized investments or held in bank or certain other money market instruments (e.g., bankers acceptances and Eurodollar or other time deposits).  The balance of the Partnership’s assets will be held in cash in commodity brokerage accounts, bank accounts or other accounts in the name of the Partnership and will be used for trading which requires cash for margin and to avoid daily buying and selling of government securities. The Partnership’s assets deposited with the Partnership’s futures brokers as margin are maintained in “customer segregated funds accounts” or “foreign futures and foreign options secured amount accounts.”

 

The Partnership does not engage in lending (other than through permitted securities investments).

  

Regulation

 

Under the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended (the “CEA”), commodity exchanges and futures trading are subject to regulation by the CFTC. NFA, a “registered futures association” under the CEA, is the only non-exchange self-regulatory organization for futures industry professionals. The CFTC has delegated to the NFA responsibility for the registration of CTAs, CPOs, “futures commission merchants,” “introducing brokers,” “swap dealers” and their respective associated persons and “floor brokers” and “floor traders.” The CEA requires CPOs and CTAs, such as the General Partner, and commodity brokers or futures commission merchants (“FCMs”) and swap dealers, such as SG Americas, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bank AG, BofA, and Bank of America, N.A to be registered and to comply with various reporting and record keeping requirements. The CFTC may suspend a CPO’s or CTA’s registration if it finds that its trading practices tend to disrupt orderly market conditions or in certain other situations. In the event that the registration of the General Partner as a CPO or a CTA were terminated or suspended, the General Partner would be unable to continue to manage the business of the Partnership. Should the General Partner’s registration be suspended, termination of the Partnership might result.

 

In addition to such registration requirements, the CFTC and certain commodity exchanges have established limits on the maximum net long or net short positions which any person may hold or control in certain futures contracts. Most exchanges also limit the changes in futures contract prices that may occur during a single trading day. The CFTC has also proposed, but not yet adopted, additional position limit rules covering energy, metals and agricultural derivative contracts. All accounts controlled by the General Partner are combined for speculative position limit purposes. The General Partner could be required to liquidate positions it holds on behalf of the Partnership, or may not be able to fully implement instructions generated by its trading models, in order to comply with such limits. Any such liquidation or limited implementation could result in substantial costs to the Partnership. It is as yet unclear whether the rules will have an adverse effect on the Partnership.

 

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Reform Act”) mandates that a substantial portion of over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives be executed in regulated markets and be submitted for clearing to regulated clearinghouses, subject to margin requirements. Associated dealer costs are generally passed through to market participants in the form of clearing account maintenance fees and less favorable dealer marks.

 

The Partnership may also trade forward contracts in the inter-bank currency market. Such forward contracts are not currently traded on exchanges; rather, banks and dealers act as principals in these markets. As a result of the Reform Act, the CFTC regulates non-deliverable forwards (including many deliverable forwards where the parties do not take delivery), although currency forward contracts are generally not otherwise subject to regulation by any other U.S. government agency. Changes in the forward markets may entail increased costs and result in burdensome reporting requirements. There is currently no limitation on the daily price movements of forward contracts. Principals in the forward markets have no obligation to continue to make markets in the forward contracts traded. The imposition of credit controls by governmental authorities or the implementation of regulations pursuant to the Reform Act might limit such forward trading to less than that which the General Partner would otherwise recommend, to the possible detriment of the Partnership.

 

(i)   through (xii) - not applicable.

 

(xiii)   the Partnership has no employees.

  

Item 1A.

Risk Factors

 

Not required.

 

Item 1B.

Unresolved Staff Comments

 

Not required.

 

 

Item 2.

Properties

 

The Partnership does not own or use any physical properties in the conduct of its business. The General Partner or an affiliate perform administrative services for the Partnership from their offices.

 

Item 3.

Legal Proceedings

 

The General Partner is not aware of any pending legal proceedings to which either the Partnership is a party or to which any of its assets are subject. In addition there are no pending material legal proceedings involving the General Partner.

 

Item 4.

Mine Safety Disclosures

 

Not required.

 

PART II

 

Item 5.

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

  

(a)

Market Information

 

There is no trading market for the Interests, and none is likely to develop. Interests may be redeemed upon 15 days’ written notice to the General Partner at their net asset value as of the last day of any month, subject to certain early redemption charges.

 

(b)

Holders

 

As of December 31, 2019, there were 521 holders of Interests.

 

(c)

Dividends

 

No distributions or dividends have been made on the Interests, and the General Partner has no present intention to make any.

 

(d)

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

 

None.

 

(e)

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities

 

Interests are sold on a monthly basis through the General Partner and certain selling agents retained by the General Partner to act as its agents. The offering price of an Interest is equal to the amount of cash contributed to the Partnership by a limited partner. Between October 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, the Partnership issued Interests at the beginning of each calendar month, as set forth in the following chart, to both new limited partners as well as to existing limited partners making additional investments.

 

Month		Number of Interests Sold to Limited Partners				Dollar Amount of such Interests Sold
October 1, 2019			4			$	489,000
November 1, 2019			0			$	0
December 1, 2019			0			$	0
Total			4			$	489,000

 

The foregoing Interests were privately offered and sold only to “accredited investors” as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), in reliance on the exemption from registration provided by Rule 506(b) of Regulation D under the 1933 Act, and with whom the Partnership, the General Partner or a selling agent acting on behalf of the General Partner has a pre-existing substantive relationship and with respect to whom it has been determined that Interests are a suitable investment.

 

No underwriting discounts or underwriting commissions were paid in connection with such sales.

 

(f)

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer

 

Pursuant to the Limited Partnership Agreement, limited partners may withdraw capital from their capital accounts in the Partnership as of the end of each calendar month. The withdrawal of capital by limited partners has no impact on the value of the capital accounts of other limited partners.

 

 

The following table summarizes limited partner withdrawals during the fourth calendar quarter of 2019:

 

		Limited Partners				Special Limited Partners
Month		Amount withdrawn				Amount withdrawn
October 31, 2019		$	787,456			$	662,567
November 30, 2019		$	566,160			$	215,198
December 31, 2019		$	1,058,143			$	832,151
Total		$	2,411,759			$	1,709,916

 

Item 6.

Selected Financial Data

 

Not required.

 

Item 7.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Interests may be offered for sale as of the beginning, and may be redeemed as of the end, of each month.

 

The amount of capital raised for the Partnership should not have a significant impact on its operations, as the Partnership has no significant capital expenditure or working capital requirements other than for monies to pay trading losses, brokerage commissions and charges. Within broad ranges of capitalization, the General Partner’s trading positions should increase or decrease in approximate proportion to the size of the Partnership.

 

The Partnership raises additional capital only through the sale of Interests and capital is increased through trading profits (if any). The Partnership does not engage in borrowing.

   

The Partnership trades futures contracts on interest rate instruments, agricultural commodities, currencies, metals, energy and stock indices, and forward contracts on currencies, and may trade spot and options on the foregoing and swaps thereon.  Risk arises from changes in the value of these contracts (market risk) and the potential inability of counterparties or brokers to perform under the terms of their contracts (credit risk).  Market risk is generally to be measured by the face amount of the futures positions acquired and the volatility of the markets traded.  The credit risk from counterparty non-performance associated with these instruments is the net unrealized gain, if any, on these positions plus the value of the margin or collateral held by the counterparty.  The risks associated with exchange-traded contracts are generally perceived to be less than those associated with OTC transactions because exchanges typically (but not universally) provide clearinghouse arrangements in which the collective credit (in some cases limited in amount, in some cases not) of the members of the exchange is pledged to support the financial integrity of the exchange.  In OTC transactions, on the other hand, traders must rely (typically but not universally) solely on the credit of their respective individual counterparties.  Margins which may be subject to loss in the event of a default are generally required in exchange trading and counterparties may require margin or collateral in the OTC markets.

 

The General Partner has procedures in place to control market risk, although there can be no assurance that they will, in fact, succeed in doing so. These procedures primarily focus on (1) real time monitoring of open positions; (2) diversifying positions among various markets; (3) limiting the assets committed as margin or collateral, generally within a range of 5% to 35% of an account’s net assets, though the amount may at any time be higher; and (4) prohibiting pyramiding — that is, using unrealized profits in a particular market as margin for additional positions in the same market. The Partnership controls credit risk by dealing exclusively with large, well-capitalized financial institutions as brokers and counterparties.

 

The financial instruments traded by the Partnership contain varying degrees of off-balance sheet risk whereby changes in the market values of the futures and forward contracts or the Partnership’s satisfaction of the obligations may exceed the amount recognized in the Statements of Financial Condition of the Partnership.

 

Due to the nature of the Partnership’s business, substantially all its assets are represented by cash, cash equivalents and U.S. government obligations, while the Partnership maintains its market exposure through open futures and forward currency contract positions.

 

The Partnership’s futures contracts are settled by offset and are cleared by the exchange clearinghouse function. Open futures positions are marked-to-market each trading day and the Partnership’s trading accounts are debited or credited accordingly. Options on futures contracts are settled either by offset or by exercise. If an option on a future is exercised, the Partnership is assigned a position in the underlying future which is then settled by offset. The Partnership’s spot and forward currency transactions conducted in the interbank market are settled by netting offsetting positions or payment obligations and by cash payments.

 

 

The value of the Partnership’s cash and financial instruments is not materially affected by inflation. Changes in interest rates, which are often associated with inflation, could cause the value of certain of the Partnership’s debt securities to decline, but only to a limited extent. More important, changes in interest rates could cause periods of strong up or down market price trends, during which the Partnership’s profit potential generally increases. However, inflation can also give rise to markets which have numerous short price trends followed by rapid reversals, markets in which the Partnership is likely to suffer losses.

 

The Partnership’s assets are generally held as cash or cash equivalents, including U.S. government securities or securities issued by federal agencies (or, to a limited extent, foreign government securities in connection with trading on non-U.S. exchanges), other CFTC-authorized investments or held in bank or certain other money market instruments (e.g., bankers acceptances and Eurodollar or other time deposits), which are used to margin the Partnership’s futures and forward currency positions and withdrawn, as necessary, to pay redemptions and expenses. Other than potential market-imposed limitations on liquidity, due, for example, to limited open interest in certain futures markets or to daily price fluctuation limits, which are inherent in the Partnership’s futures and forward trading, the Partnership’s assets are highly liquid and are expected to remain so. During its operations through December 31, 2019, the Partnership experienced no meaningful periods of illiquidity in any of the numerous markets traded by the General Partner.

 

Critical Accounting Estimates

 

The Partnership records its transactions in futures, forward and spot contracts, including related income and expenses, on a trade date basis.  Open futures contracts traded on an exchange are valued at fair value, which is based on the closing settlement price on the exchange where the futures contract is traded by the Partnership on the day with respect to which net assets are being determined.  Open spot contracts are recorded at fair value based on current market prices (“spot prices”). Open forward currency contracts are recorded at fair value, based on pricing models that consider the current market prices plus the time value of money (“forward points”) and contractual prices of the underlying financial instruments.  The spot prices and forward points for open forward currency contracts are generally based on the 3:00 P.M. New York time prices provided by widely used quotation service providers on the day with respect to which net assets are being determined.  The forward points from the quotation service providers are generally in periods of one month, two months, three months and six months forward while the contractual forward delivery dates for the foreign currency contracts traded by the Partnership may be in between these periods.

 

The General Partner’s policy is to calculate the forward points for each contract being valued by determining the number of days from the date the forward currency contract is being valued to its maturity date and then using straight-line interpolation to calculate the valuation of forward points for the applicable forward currency contract. The General Partner will also compare the calculated price to the forward currency prices provided by dealers to determine whether the calculated price is fair and reasonable.

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions, such as accrual of expenses, that affect the amounts and disclosures reported in the financial statements. Based on the nature of the business and operations of the Partnership, the General Partner believes that the estimates utilized in preparing the Partnership’s financial statements are appropriate and reasonable, however actual results could differ from these estimates. The estimates used do not provide a range of possible results that would require the exercise of subjective judgment. The General Partner further believes that, based on the nature of the business and operations of the Partnership, no other reasonable assumptions relating to the application of the Partnership’s critical accounting estimates other than those currently used would likely result in materially different amounts from those reported.

 

Results of Operations

 

The Partnership’s success depends on the General Partner’s ability to recognize and capitalize on trends and other profit opportunities in different sectors of the global capital and commodity markets. The General Partner’s investment and trading methods are confidential, so that substantially the only information that can be furnished regarding the Partnership’s results of operations is its performance record. Unlike most operating businesses, general economic or seasonal conditions have no direct effect on the profit potential of the Partnership, while, at the same time, its past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Because of the speculative nature of its trading, operational or economic trends have little relevance to the Partnership’s results. The General Partner believes, however, that there are certain market conditions — for example, markets with strong price trends — in which the Partnership has a better opportunity of being profitable than in others. Since the mid-1990s, the world has seen a number of outbreaks of new viral illnesses of varying severity, including avian flus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu), and COVID-19 caused by the novel Coronavirus known as SARS–CoV-2. The responses to these outbreaks have varied as has their impact on human health, local economies and the global economy, and it is impossible at the outset of any such outbreak to estimate accurately what the ultimate impact of any such outbreak will be. Protective measures taken by governments and the private sector, including the General Partner, to mitigate the spread of any such illness, including travel restrictions and outright bans, mandatory business closures, quarantines, and work-from-home arrangements, may lead to, or may be expected to lead to, wide spread economic damage, resulting in severe disruptions in the markets in which the Partnership trades and, potentially, adversely affecting the Partnership’s profit potential; and the spread of any such illness within the offices of the General Partner, the Partnership’s service providers, and/or the exchanges and other components of market infrastructure could severely impair the operational capabilities of the General Partner, the Partnership’s service providers or various markets themselves resulting in harm to the Partnership’s business and its operating results.

 

2019

 

During 2019, the Partnership achieved net realized and unrealized gains of $11,775,332 from its trading operations (including foreign exchange transactions and translations). Brokerage commissions of $3,884,559, administrative expenses of $257,957 and custody fees of $28,747 were paid or accrued. The Partnership paid a profit share to the General Partner of $1,055,332. Interest income of $3,505,399 partially offset the Partnership’s expenses resulting in a net income after profit share to the General Partner of $10,054,136.

 

An analysis of the trading gain (loss) by sector is as follows:

 

Sector		% Gain (Loss)
Currencies			(2.40	)%
Energies			(3.19	)%
Grains			0.81	%
Interest rates			6.41	%
Livestock			(0.05	)%
Metals			(0.31	)%
Softs			(0.33	)%
Stock indices			6.75	%
Total			7.69	%

 

The Partnership was profitable during 2019 as gains from trading equity futures, interest rate futures and, to a lesser extent, grain futures far out distanced losses from trading energy futures and foreign exchange forwards. Trading of metal and soft commodity futures was also slightly unprofitable.

 

Financial and commodity market participants rode a risk roller coaster during the year. Risk appetites receded in the face of an escalation of the U.S.-China trade war, evidence of slowing global growth and trade, rising Brexit uncertainty, mounting political confrontation in the U.S., and increasing geopolitical tension—e.g. in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Russia, and across South America and Continental Europe. On the other hand, whenever these factors calmed or whenever global central banks, led by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (“ECB”), would ease their policy stances, risk appetites would expand.

 

During the first eight months of 2019 indications of slowing growth globally, slackening inflation pressures in Europe, China and the U.S. and persistent uncertainties around Brexit and U.S.-China trade negotiations led to a dovish policy pivot by global central banks—especially the Federal Reserve and ECB. Indeed, in 2019 there were 130 official rate cuts versus just 21 rate increases. The Partnership saw an increased demand for government notes and bonds, declining yields, and profits from long interest rate futures positions, even though during August some model-driven countertrend trades generated sizable losses. The U.S. 10-year government bond yield fell from 2.69% on 12/31/2018 to 1.47% on 9/3/2019. Subsequently, however, as the trade war between the U.S. and China calmed and a phase one deal was reached; as Boris Johnson led a Conservative landslide victory in the U.K. and the fear of a “no deal” Brexit receded; and as the world growth outlook steadied, global interest rates recovered in a saw-toothed manner from the lows reached late in the summer, closing the year at 1.92%. Ultimately, short interest rate futures positions were profitable. Overall, trading of German, French, Italian, British, and, to a lesser extent, Japanese and Australian interest rate futures were profitable.

 

Trading of equity futures was profitable in 2019 even though equity markets were buffeted by opposing forces during the year. On the one hand, there was the persistent positive influence from more accommodative global monetary policy and, late in the year, from supportive fiscal policy initiatives, particularly out of Asia. On the other hand, there were negative influences periodically from global growth worries, trade tensions, Brexit uncertainty and geopolitical unrest, although these negative influences did abate in the fourth quarter. Overall, long positions in U.S., U.K., European, Japanese, Australian, Taiwanese, Singaporean and Korean stock index futures were profitable, particularly later in the year. A short vix trade was also quite profitable. Meanwhile, long positions in Hong Kong and Chinese futures and trading of the U.S. Russell and mid-cap indices posted losses.

 

Ample supplies, trade disputes, and African swine fever reduced the demand for feed grains and weighed on grain prices for much of 2019. Short corn and soybean positions were profitable, especially in July and August. Corn and soybean prices were lifted for a time in May and June and long soybean and corn positions were profitable in those months. Meanwhile, a short wheat trade and a long soybean meal position each registered small losses.

 

The U.S. dollar traded fitfully in a 3 ½% range during 2019, and performance was mixed but overall unprofitable. At times, the dollar was supported by solid U.S. growth, safe haven demand, high relative interest rates, and global political uncertainties. At other times, however, worries that growth was slowing, declines in U.S. market interest rates, Federal Reserve cuts to official interest rates, and a favorable resolution of the aforementioned political difficulties would weigh on the U.S. currency. The stabilization of the global economic outlook during the last four months of 2019 coincided with a reduced demand for the U.S. dollar, which fell from its 2019 high reached in September. On balance, trading the dollar versus the currencies of Australia, Great Britain, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa and the euro were unprofitable. Conversely, dollar trading against the Chilean, Indian, Swiss, Swedish, Turkish and Singaporean currencies was profitable.

 

 

Energy prices, as represented by WTI crude oil, were quite volatile throughout 2019. WTI crude, which had closed 2018 near $45/barrel, rebounded over the first four months of 2019 to about $66/barrel on April 23. Prices were underpinned by news that the U.S. would end waivers on Iranian crude oil exports, by the continued OPEC+ effort to curtail production, and by the impact of the Libyan crisis on oil production. However, as the economic outlook deteriorated and as U.S. shale production pushed U.S. crude inventories to 2 year highs, the WTI price fell over 20% to a 5-month low near $51/barrel in mid-June. Thereafter, WTI experienced numerous sharp swings in a $51-61/barrel range. Heightened U.S.-Iran tensions pushed prices sharply higher at the start of the summer; then in August, prices depressed among increased U.S.-China trade tensions and global growth worries; they soared again in mid-September following an apparently devastating attack on Saudi production and export facilities; and collapsed later that month when after-attack reports showed the actual damage to be easily managed. Finally during the fourth quarter, crude prices rose once more among improved U.S.-China prospects. Consequently, trading of WTI crude, Brent crude, London gas oil, and heating oil were unprofitable. On the other hand, a short natural gas position was slightly profitable—largely in Nov—as ample supplies, evidenced by an 8-year high in European inventories, depressed prices even as we entered the winter heating season.

 

Trading of metal futures was slightly unprofitable as small losses from trading copper, gold and nickel outweighed small gains from trading aluminum, zinc, platinum and silver. Trading of soft commodity futures was also marginally unprofitable with small losses from trading coffee, sugar and cotton.

 

2018

 

During 2018, the Partnership achieved net realized and unrealized gains of $4,502,389 from its trading operations (including foreign exchange transactions and translations). Brokerage commissions of $3,880,705, administrative expenses of $281,333 and custody fees of $28,876 were paid or accrued. The Partnership paid a profit share to the General Partner of $212,140. Interest income of $2,678,807 partially offset the Partnership’s expenses resulting in a net income after profit share to the General Partner of $2,778,142.

 

An analysis of the trading gain (loss) by sector is as follows:

 

Sector		% Gain (Loss)
Currencies			0.09	%
Energies			8.45	%
Grains			0.62	%
Interest rates			1.55	%
Livestock			(0.07	)%
Metals			(1.47	)%
Softs			0.17	%
Stock indices			(6.50	)%
Total			2.84	%

 

The Partnership was profitable in 2018 as first quarter losses, driven largely by the January – February global equity selloff, were outweighed by gains realized the last ten months of the year. Sizable profits from trading energy futures and, to a lesser extent, from trading interest rate, soft and agricultural commodity futures and currency forwards outdistanced losses from trading stock index and metal futures.

 

The year opened optimistically with signs of expanding, synchronized global growth, but closed pessimistically amid mounting concerns about a synchronized growth deceleration. Indicative of this change were readings from the composite index of global manufacturing activity produced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and IHS Markit that stood at a 27-month low of 51.5 in December after reaching a six year high of 54.5 in January 2018. The dramatic change in outlook reflected several shifts that emerged during the year including: a move from quantitative easing toward quantitative tightening by global monetary authorities; the rising tide of trade protectionism, especially between the U.S. and China; mounting political turmoil in Europe including Brexit, the European Union-Italy deficit squabble, France’s “yellow vests” demonstrations, Germany’s leadership changes, and the simmering Spain-Catalonia independence struggle; and increasing tensions between the Trump administration and the U.S. Congress following the November elections in the U.S. Unsettled conditions in world energy markets also contributed to the deterioration of the growth outlook. These factors, combined with reduced global liquidity, increased high frequency algorithmic trading and the declining role of traditional market makers, led to increasing volatility during the year across most, if not all, financial and commodity markets.

 

 

Energy trading was highly profitable during the year even as energy prices swung wildly. For example, Brent crude prices started the year at about $66/barrel, climbed to nearly $80/barrel in late May, fell to $71/barrel in mid-August, rose again to more than $86/barrel on October 3rd and then plunged under $50/barrel in December. Conflicting forces were at work throughout the year. The production control agreement signed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”), the U.S. decision to pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement with Iran, the implosion of the Venezuelan economy, Libyan oil production difficulties, and the January – September decline in U.S. inventories negatively impacted energy supplies and underpinned prices. Alternatively, rising shale production that pushed U.S. output to a record 11.7 million barrels per day (mb/d) by late in the year; the June relaxation of OPEC’s production restraint agreement that allowed Saudi Arabia and Russia to push their outputs to record levels of 11.2 and 11.4 mb/d, respectively; and the surprising U.S. announcement in November of 6-month waivers of sanctions for purchasers of Iranian crude flooded the market with supply, at first constraining price increases but ultimately leading to the fourth quarter price collapse. Evidence of slowing global growth also depressed prices. Not even the announcement in December that OPEC would re-impose production cuts in January arrested the declines. Generally speaking, long positions in Brent crude, WTI crude, RBOB gasoline and London gas oil during the first three quarters of 2018 and short positions in these markets in November and December were highly profitable. A long U.S. natural gas position was also very profitable in November as seasonal demand pushed prices higher. Trading of heating oil was slightly unprofitable due to a long position in October and November.

 

Interest rate futures were buffeted by clashing forces during the year. On the one hand, indications that global central banks, especially the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”), European Central Bank (the “ECB”), Bank of England and Bank of Japan, were pulling back on monetary accommodation led to firming interest rates and falling prices of interest rate futures. On the other hand, higher U.S. interest rates, a rising U.S. dollar, global trade frictions, and political uncertainties sparked tumult in emerging markets, including Turkey, Brazil Argentina, Mexico and Indonesia, triggering growth concerns, capital flight and safe haven demand for government securities. Similarly, worries that political turmoil in Europe could impede European growth triggered periodic safe haven demand that drove interest rates off their highs. Strong demand from central banks, pension funds and insurance-related buyers for high quality government debt, particularly when yields reached attractive levels, added to the price rallies. Finally, increased equity and credit market volatility globally, and subdued actual inflation statistics also underpinned demand for government securities. Overall, long positions in German, French, Japanese, Australian and Canadian note and bond futures were profitable. Trading the U.S. ultra-bond was fractionally positive too. On the other hand, trading of U.S. 2-, 5- and 10-year notes and short-term Eurodollar futures produced partially offsetting losses. A long Italian bond trade was unprofitable in May when yields rose sharply in the wake of post-election turmoil. Long positions in British interest rate futures were unprofitable, particularly early in the year when rates increased due to rising global growth.

 

Short soybean, wheat and corn trades were profitable, especially in June as Chinese tariffs and ample supplies weighed on prices. Short coffee and sugar positions were each slightly profitable during the January – August time frame, while trading of cocoa produced a partially offsetting loss.

 

While the U.S. dollar did advance during 2018, the gain did not occur in a straight line, but rather, was interspersed with periods of volatile sideways market action. The U.S. dollar, which had been on an upswing entering 2018—as measured by the Bloomberg U.S. dollar index (BBDXY) —fell about 4% from January 1 through mid-April, then strengthened in a halting manner by about 8% during the final eight months of the year. In general, the more hawkish stance by the Fed relative to other major central banks and solid U.S. growth and corporate profits underpinned the U.S. dollar. Idiosyncratic trade, current account deficit, fiscal deficit, foreign debt and political problems in a number of emerging economies, including Turkey, Brazil, India and Argentina among others, further buoyed the U.S. dollar. Increased demand in the wake of periodic European political uncertainties also supported the U.S. currency. Long U.S. dollar trades versus the Brazilian real, British pound, euro, Norwegian krone, Swedish krona, Korean won, and Israeli shekel were profitable. A long U.S. dollar/short Turkish lira position was profitable through August, and a short U.S. dollar/long Turkish lira trade was profitable after Turkish interest rates were boosted to support the currency. On the other hand, there were a number of idiosyncratic currency movements that produced losses. Long U.S. dollar trades versus the Japanese yen and Swiss franc—perhaps safer safe havens than the U.S. dollar—were unprofitable. The New Zealand and Australian dollars, which had been shorted significantly as trade tensions between the U.S. and China escalated, rebounded sharply on short covering prior to the November G-20 conference in hopes that the Trump-Xi talks would lead to reduced tensions going forward. Somewhat better than expected economic data from both countries and less dovish local central bank statements supported the short covering during the fourth quarter. As a result, long U.S. dollar positions against both these currencies were unprofitable. Trading the U.S. dollar against the Mexican peso was unprofitable, particularly around the Mexican election in July, and after the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or “USMCA” was agreed in October. Trading of the South African rand versus the U.S. dollar and of the euro against other European currencies was also unprofitable.

 

Equity markets were increasingly volatile in 2018 due to decreased global liquidity, increased algorithmic trading, increasing trade protectionism and signs of slowing global growth, particularly late in the year. Rising U.S. interest rates and a strong U.S. dollar dented enthusiasm for emerging market equities. Mounting political turmoil dampened investor interest in European equities. Escalating trade tension between the U.S. and China, and Chinese government efforts to rein in excessive debt and to control environmental damage combined to slow China’s growth and led to sharp selloffs in Chinese and other Asian equities. U.S. equities wilted, especially late in the year, under the weight of worsening trade tensions and persistent Fed tightening. In this environment, long positions in U.S., Canadian, British, German, Swedish, Japanese, and Australian stock futures were unprofitable, particularly during the sharp January – February and fourth quarter declines. Trading of the VIX future and Spanish, Korean and Indian equity futures were also unprofitable. Meanwhile, short positions Dutch, French, Italian, Chinese, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, South African and MSCI EAFE stock index futures posted partially offsetting gains, especially during the year-end selloff. At times, long positions in Dutch, French and Taiwanese equity futures also posted gains.

 

 

During 2018, metals prices were impacted by a variety of factors including tariffs and other trade disruptions, U.S. sanctions on Russia, political turmoil in producing regions, a shifting mix of the number of cars powered by gas, diesel and electric motors, a generally rising dollar and the shift from global growth to global slowdown. Trading of industrial metals, especially copper and aluminum, was unprofitable. In addition, late in the year, short gold and silver positions were unprofitable and were reduced as a slightly weaker dollar and global economic and political uncertainties boosted the prices of precious metals.

 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

The Partnership does not engage in off-balance sheet arrangements with other entities.

 

Contractual Obligations

 

The Partnership does not enter into any contractual obligations or commercial commitments to make future payments of a type that would be typical for an operating company or that would affect its liquidity or capital resources. The Partnership’s sole business is trading futures, forward currency, spot, option and swap contracts, both long (contracts to buy) and short (contracts to sell). All such contracts are settled by offset, not delivery. Substantially all such contacts are for settlement within four months of the trade date and substantially all such contracts and are held by the Partnership for less than four months before being offset or rolled over into new contracts with similar maturities. The Partnership’s Financial Statements, included as Exhibit 13.01 to this report, present a Condensed Schedule of Investments setting forth net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of the Partnership’s open future and forward currency contracts, both long and short, at December 31, 2019.

 

Item 7A.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

 

Not required.

 

Item 8.

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

 

The report of Deloitte & Touche LLP for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, as required by this item, is included as Exhibit 13.01 to this report. Supplementary data is not required.

 

Item 9.

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

 

None.

  

Item 9A.

Controls and Procedures

 

The General Partner, with the participation of the General Partner’s principal executive officers and principal financial officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of its disclosure controls and procedures with respect to the Partnership as of the end of the fiscal year for which this Annual Report on Form 10-K is being filed, and, based on its evaluation, has concluded that these disclosure controls and procedures are effective. There were no significant changes in the General Partner’s internal controls with respect to the Partnership or in other factors applicable to the Partnership that could significantly affect these controls subsequent to the date of their evaluation.

 

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

The General Partner is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over the Partnership’s financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, a company’s principal executive and principal financial officers and effected by a company’s board of directors, management and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The General Partner’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

 

●

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

 

●

provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of the Partnership’s financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and that the Partnership’s receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of the General Partner’s management and directors; and

 

 

●

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

 

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. 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.

 

The General Partner assessed the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting with respect to the Partnership as of December 31, 2019. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013).  Based on its assessment, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2019, the General Partner’s internal control over financial reporting with respect to the Partnership is effective based on those criteria.

 

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires the General Partner to evaluate annually the effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting as of the end of each fiscal year, and to include a management report assessing the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting in all annual reports. There were no changes in the Partnership’s internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2019 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

Item 9B.

Other Information

 

None.

 

PART III

 

Item 10.

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

 

(a, b)

Identification of Directors and Executive Officers

 

The Partnership has no directors or executive officers. The Partnership is controlled and managed by the General Partner.

 

The General Partner is a Delaware corporation operating in New York, New York, organized in May 1982 to manage discretionary accounts primarily in futures, forward and spot markets. It is the corporate successor to a futures trading and advisory organization which has been continuously managing assets in the currency and futures markets using quantitative, systematic techniques since 1971.

 

The principals and senior officers of the General Partner as of December 31, 2019 are as follows:

 

Harvey Beker, age 66. Mr. Beker is Chairman of the General Partner, and serves as a member of the General Partner’s Investment Committee. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from New York University (“NYU”) in 1974 and a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from NYU in 1975. From June 1975 to July 1977, Mr. Beker was employed by the investment bank Loeb Rhoades, Inc. where he developed and traded silver arbitrage strategies. From July 1977 to June 1978, Mr. Beker was a futures trader at the commodities and securities brokerage firm of Clayton Brokerage Co. of St. Louis. Mr. Beker joined The Millburn Corporation in June 1978. He initially served as the Director of Operations for its affiliate, Millburn Partners, and most recently thereafter served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the General Partner and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Millburn Corporation until November 1, 2015. During his tenure at the General Partner (including its former affiliates, The Millburn Corporation, Millburn Partners and CommInVest), he has been instrumental in the development of the research, trading and operations areas. Mr. Beker became a principal of the firm in June 1982, and a partner in the predecessor to ShareInVest in April 1982. Mr. Beker became registered as an Associated Person and a Swap Associated Person of the General Partner effective November 25, 1986 and March 8, 2013, respectively. He was also listed as a Principal and registered as an Associated Person of ShareInVest effective February 20, 1986 until February 25, 2007. Mr. Beker has also served as Co-Chairman of Millburn Asia, LLC and Millburn International, LLC (collectively, “Millburn International Group”) since each entity’s inception.

 

 

Gregg R. Buckbinder, age 61. Mr. Buckbinder is President and Chief Operating Officer of the General Partner. He joined the General Partner and The Millburn Corporation in January 1998 from Odyssey Partners, L.P., an investment management firm, where he was responsible for the operation, administration and accounting of the firm’s merchant banking and managed account businesses from July 1990 through December 1997. Mr. Buckbinder was employed by Tucker Anthony, a securities broker and dealer, from June 1985 to July 1990 where he was First Vice President and Controller, and from August 1983 to June 1984 where he designed and implemented various operations and accounting systems. He was with the public accounting firm of Ernst & Whinney from June 1984 to June 1985 as a manager in the tax department and from September 1980 to August 1983 as a senior auditor, with an emphasis on clients in the financial services business. Mr. Buckbinder graduated cum laude from Pace University (“Pace”) in 1980 with a B.B.A. in accounting and received an M.S. in taxation from Pace in 1988. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Buckbinder served as Senior Vice-President of the General Partner and The Millburn Corporation until November 1, 2015, the Chief Financial Officer of the General Partner until February 1, 2020, and has since served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of both entities with his affiliation with The Millburn Corporation ceasing on December 31, 2018 upon The Millburn Corporation’s merger into the General Partner. Mr. Buckbinder has also served as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director of each entity in Millburn International Group since inception. Mr. Buckbinder became listed as a Principal of the General Partner effective February 5, 1999. He became listed as a Principal of The Millburn Corporation, effective March 23, 1998. Mr. Buckbinder became a partner in ShareInVest in January 2000. He was also listed as a Principal of ShareInVest, effective February 28, 2001 until February 25, 2007.

 

Michael W. Carter, age 50. Mr. Carter is a Vice President, Director of Operations and Principal Accounting Officer of the General Partner. He is responsible for overseeing operations and accounting for the firm’s commodity pools. Mr. Carter has served as Principal Accounting Officer of the General Partner since May 2014, and prior to the merger of The Millburn Corporation into the General Partner on December 31, 2018, also served as Vice President and Director of Operations of The Millburn Corporation since January 2011, maintaining responsibility for the entity’s operations. Mr. Carter previously held the positions of Fund Controller (February 2001 until February 2011) and Senior Accountant (March 2000 until February 2001) with The Millburn Corporation. He graduated from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Newark in May 1997 with a B.S. in Accounting. Prior to joining the General Partner and its affiliates in March 2000, he was employed with the accounting firm Rothstein Kass & Company, P.C., as a fund accountant from March 1997 until September 1997 and as a staff auditor from September 1997 until June 1999, and then an equity analyst covering restaurants with the brokerage firm of Sidoti & Company, LLC, which conducts independent small-cap equity research for institutional investors, from June 1999 until February 2000. He is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Carter became listed as Principal of the General Partner effective April 22, 2014. Mr. Carter’s affiliation with The Millburn Corporation ceased on December 31, 2018 upon its merger into the General Partner.

 

George E. Crapple, age 75. Mr. Crapple is a Principal of the General Partner and stepped down as Co-Chairman of the General Partner and a member of the General Partner’s Investment Committee as of March 17, 2020. In 1966, he graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin where his field of concentration was economics and he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1969, he graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was a lawyer with the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, Chicago, Illinois, from June 1969 until April 1, 1983, as a partner since July 1975, specializing in commodities, securities, corporate and tax law. He was first associated with the General Partner in June 1976 and joined the General Partner (including its former affiliates, The Millburn Corporation, Millburn Partners and CommInVest) on April 1, 1983 on a full-time basis. Mr. Crapple ceased his employment with The Millburn Corporation effective May 31, 2011 and his position as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the General Partner as of November 1, 2015. He became a partner in ShareInVest in April 1984. Mr. Crapple is a past Director, Member of the Executive Committee, Chairman of the Appeals Committee and a former Chairman of the Eastern Regional Business Conduct Committee of the NFA, past Chairman of the hedge fund industry group, the Managed Funds Association (the “MFA”), a former member of the Global Markets Advisory Committee of the CFTC and a former member of the board of directors of the Futures Industry Association. Mr. Crapple also served as the Co-Chairman of each entity in Millburn International Group since inception. Mr. Crapple became listed as a Principal and registered as an Associated Person and Swap Associated Person of the General Partner effective September 13, 1984, April 2, 1988 and December 26, 2012, respectively. He was also listed as a Principal and registered as an Associated Person of ShareInVest effective February 20, 1986 until February 25, 2007.

 

Steven M. Felsenthal, age 50. Mr. Felsenthal is General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of the General Partner. Prior to joining the General Partner and its affiliates (including its former affiliate The Millburn Corporation) in January 2004, Mr. Felsenthal was a senior associate in the investment management group at the law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (September 1999 to January 2004), where he represented and advised hedge funds, registered investment companies, investment advisers, broker-dealers and banks in connection with all facets of their asset management businesses, and a member of the tax department of the law firm of Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP (October 1996 to September 1999). He graduated cum laude from Yeshiva University in 1991 with a B.A. in political science, and order of the coif from Fordham University School of Law in 1996, where he also served as an editor of the Fordham Environmental Law Journal. Mr. Felsenthal received an LL.M. degree in taxation from NYU School of Law in 2001 and has written and been quoted in numerous published articles, and frequently speaks at conferences, on various topics related to investment management. Mr. Felsenthal is a member of the New York State Bar (since August 1997), a member of NFA’s Compliance and Risk Committee (since May 2014), a member of MFA’s CTA, CPO and Futures Committee, serving as a Chair (since April 2018) and Vice Chair (February 2017 to April 2018), a former member of the Steering Committee of MFA’s Chief Compliance Officer Forum (June 2014 to December 2015), former Chairman of MFA’s CPO/CTA Advisory Committee (November 2006 to June 2010) and former Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee of MFA’s CPO/CTA Forum (June 2010 to January 2013), is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Securities Operations & Custody (formerly known as the Journal of Securities Law, Regulation and Compliance) (since February 2007) and the Journal of Financial Compliance (since August 2017) and a regular lecturer for the Regulatory Compliance Association’s Chief Compliance Officer University (since May 2009). Mr. Felsenthal has also served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary of each entity in Millburn International Group since inception. Mr. Felsenthal became listed as a Principal of the General Partner effective June 24, 2004. Mr. Felsenthal also served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of ShareInVest. Mr. Felsenthal’s affiliation with The Millburn Corporation ceased on December 31, 2018 upon its merger into the General Partner.

 

 

Mark B. Fitzsimmons, age 72. Mr. Fitzsimmons is a Senior Vice President of the General Partner. His responsibilities mainly involve business development. He joined the General Partner and its affiliates (including its former affiliate The Millburn Corporation) in January 1990 from the brokerage firm of Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, a global financial services firm, where he was a Principal and Manager of institutional foreign exchange sales and was involved in strategic trading for the firm from October 1987 until January 1990. From September 1977 to October 1987, he was with the financial institution Chemical Bank New York Corporation (“Chemical”), first as a Senior Economist in Chemical’s Foreign Exchange Advisory Service and later as a Vice President and Manager of Chemical’s Corporate Trading Group. While at Chemical, he also traded both foreign exchange and fixed income products. From September 1973 to September 1977, Mr. Fitzsimmons was employed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, dividing his time between the International Research Department and the Foreign Exchange Department. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1970 with a B.S. degree in economics. His graduate work was done at the University of Virginia, where he received a certificate of candidacy for a Ph.D. in economics in 1973. Mr. Fitzsimmons became listed as a Principal and registered as an Associated Person and a Swap Associated Person of the General Partner, effective July 2, 1993, April 15, 2009 and March 8, 2013, respectively. Mr. Fitzsimmons was a partner in ShareInVest beginning in January 2000. He was also a listed Principal of ShareInVest effective May 19, 1999 until February 25, 2007. Mr. Fitzsimmons also served as a Senior Vice President of The Millburn Corporation until December 31, 2011 with his main responsibilities including business development and investment strategy.

 

Barry Goodman, age 62. Mr. Goodman is Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Trading of the General Partner, and serves as a member of the General Partner’s Investment Committee. Mr. Goodman plays an integral role in business and product development, and in the strategic direction of the firm as a whole. Mr. Goodman joined the General Partner (including its former affiliate The Millburn Corporation) and Millburn Partners in November 1982 as Assistant Director of Trading and most recently thereafter served as Executive Vice President of the General Partner and The Millburn Corporation until November 1, 2015. Mr. Goodman has since served as Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Trading of both entities with his affiliation with The Millburn Corporation ceasing on December 31, 2018 upon the merger of The Millburn Corporation into the General Partner. His responsibilities include overseeing the firm’s trading operations and managing its trading relationships, as well as the design and implementation of trading systems. From September 1980 through October 1982, he was a commodity trader at the brokerage firm of E.F. Hutton & Co., Inc. (“E.F. Hutton”). At E.F. Hutton, he also designed and maintained various technical indicators and coordinated research projects pertaining to the futures markets. Mr. Goodman graduated magna cum laude from Harpur College of the State University of New York in 1979 with a B.A. in economics. Mr. Goodman has also served as President and a Director of each entity in Millburn International Group since inception. Mr. Goodman became listed as a Principal and registered as an Associated Person and a Swap Associated Person of the General Partner effective December 19, 1991, May 23, 1989 and January 14, 2013, respectively. He became a partner in ShareInVest in January 1994. Mr. Goodman was a listed Principal of ShareInVest, effective May 19, 1999 until February 25, 2007.

 

Grant N. Smith, age 68. Mr. Smith is Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of the General Partner, and serves as a member of the General Partner’s Investment Committee. He is responsible for the design, testing and implementation of quantitative trading strategies, as well as for planning and overseeing the computerized decision-support systems of the firm. He received a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) in 1974 and an M.S. degree from MIT in 1975. While at MIT, he held several teaching and research positions in the computer science field and participated in various projects relating to database management. He joined the predecessor entity to The Millburn Corporation in June 1975, and has been continuously associated with the General Partner and its affiliates since that time. Mr. Smith served as the Executive Vice President of the General Partner and The Millburn Corporation until November 1, 2015 and as the Director of Research of both such entities until May 31, 2016. He has since served as the Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of both entities with his affiliation with The Millburn Corporation ceasing on December 31, 2018 upon the merger of The Millburn Corporation into the General Partner. He has also served as a Director of each entity in Millburn International Group since inception, where he, along with the other Directors of each of those entities, is responsible for its overall management. Mr. Smith became listed as a Principal and registered as an Associated Person and a Swap Associated Person of the General Partner, effective December 19, 1991, April 15, 2009, and March 8, 2013, respectively. Mr. Smith also became a partner in ShareInVest in January 1994. He also was listed as a Principal of ShareInVest, effective May 19, 1999 until February 25, 2007.

 

Ilon Wu, age 43. Ms. Wu is a Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the General Partner.  Her areas of responsibility include overseeing the accounting and finance for the General Partner and accounting and administration of many of the investment vehicles managed by the General Partner.  Ms. Wu has served as Chief Financial Officer of the General Partner since January 2020, before which she served as Controller of The Millburn Corporation (since January 2011), a position she held prior to the merger of The Millburn Corporation into the General Partner on December 31, 2018, and then in the same capacity at the General Partner. Ms. Wu previously held the positions of Assistant Controller (August 2005 until December 2010) and Senior Financial Accountant (June 2000 until August 2006) with The Millburn Corporation.  She graduated from Baruch College, The City University of New York in May 1998 with a B.B.A. in Accounting. Prior to joining the General Partner and its affiliates in June 2000, she was employed with the accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP, as a staff accountant from October 1998 to June 2000. She is currently awaiting the approval of her Certified Public Accountant license application from the State of New York. Ms. Wu became listed as Principal of the General Partner effective March 9, 2020. Ms. Wu’s affiliation with The Millburn Corporation ceased on December 31, 2018 upon its merger into the General Partner.

 

None of the individuals listed above currently serves as a director of a public company.

 

(c)

Identification of Certain Significant Employees

 

None.

 

 

(d)

Family Relationships

 

None.

 

(e)

Business Experience

 

See Item 10 (a, b) above.

 

(f)

Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings

 

None.

  

(g)

Code of Ethics

 

The Partnership has no employees, officers or directors and is managed by the General Partner.  The General Partner has adopted an Executive Code of Ethics that applies to its principal executive officers, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer.  A copy of this Executive Code of Ethics may be obtained at no charge by written request to Millburn Ridgefield Corporation, 55 West 46th Street, 31st Floor, New York, New York 10036 or by calling 212-332-7300 (ask for Client Services).

 

(h)

Audit Committee Financial Expert

 

Because the Partnership has no employees, officers or directors, the Partnership has no audit committee. The Partnership is managed by the General Partner. Gregg Buckbinder serves as the General Partner’s “audit committee financial expert.” Mr. Buckbinder is not independent of the management of the General Partner. The General Partner is a privately owned corporation managed by its shareholders. It has no independent directors.

 

Item 11.

Executive Compensation

 

The Partnership has no directors, officers or employees. None of the directors, officers or employees of the General Partner receive compensation from the Partnership. The General Partner makes all investment decisions on behalf of the Partnership. In respect of limited partners who acquire their Interests through selling agents, the General Partner receives a fixed monthly brokerage fee equal to 0.375% of the Partnership’s month-end net assets attributable to such limited partner’s capital account. In respect of limited partners who acquire their Interests through the General Partner or an Advisory Program, the General Partner receives brokerage commissions at a fixed monthly rate of 0.146% of the Partnership’s month-end net assets attributable to such limited partner’s capital account plus an amount equal to the brokerage commissions and fees payable to clearing and executing brokers attributable to each such limited partners’ proportionate interest in the Partnership. The General Partner also receives an annual profit share of 20% of any new trading profit (net of brokerage commissions and administrative expenses) with respect to each Interest.

 

Item 12.

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

 

(a)

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners

 

All of the Partnership’s general partner interest is held by the General Partner.

 

(b)

Security Ownership of Management

 

The Partnership has no officers or directors. Under the terms of the Limited Partnership Agreement, the Partnership’s affairs are managed by the General Partner, which has discretionary authority over the Partnership’s trading. As of December 31, 2019, the General Partner’s interest was valued at $2,703,294, which constituted 1.74% of the Partnership’s capital as of December 31, 2019.

  

 

As of December 31, 2019, the directors and executive officers of the General Partner beneficially owned Interests as follows:

 

										Percentage of Limited
		Value of Interest								Partnership Interests
						Held
Name		Held Directly				Indirectly 1				% Directly				% Indirectly
Harvey Beker		$	68,436			$	12,692,857				0.04	%			8.34	%
Gregg Buckbinder		$	243,624			$	571,861				0.16	%			0.38	%
George E. Crapple		$	1,087,167			$	7,048,485				0.71	%			4.63	%
Steven M. Felsenthal		$	0			$	200,895				0.00	%			0.13	%
Mark Fitzsimmons		$	0			$	3,668,638				0.00	%			2.41	%
Barry Goodman		$	72,407			$	3,304,621				0.05	%			2.17	%
Grant Smith		$	4,908,906			$	2,670,736				3.23	%			1.75	%
Directors and executive officers of the General Partner as a group		$	6,380,540			$	30,158,093				4.19	%			19.81	%

 

¹ Interests held indirectly include Interests with respect to which a person holds voting or disposition power: (i) by virtue of serving as one of two or fewer trustees, custodian or officer of the beneficial owner which is a charitable entity, benefit plan or custody account for the benefit of a minor; (ii) with respect to certain Interests owned by members of a person’s immediate family; or (iii) through a self-directed benefit plan.

 

(c)

Changes in Control

 

None.

 

(d)

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

 

None.

 

Item 13.

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

 

See “Item 11. Executive Compensation” and “Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.”  The Partnership paid $3,884,559 in brokerage fees to the General Partner and allocated $1,055,332 in profit share to the General Partner for the year ended December 31, 2019. The General Partner’s capital interest was allocated a net gain of $239,541 for the year ended December 31, 2019. The Partnership paid $3,880,705 in brokerage fees to the General Partner and allocated $212,140 in profit share to the General Partner for the year ended December 31, 2018. The General Partner’s capital interest was allocated a net gain of $97,399 for the year ended December 31, 2018. The General Partner has paid certain administrative expenses to third-parties on behalf of the Partnership, related to legal, accounting, auditing, printing, postage and similar administrative expenses, and has been or will be reimbursed without interest by the Partnership.  The Partnership pays administrative expenses for legal, audit and accounting services, up to 0.25% per annum of the Partnership’s average month-end net assets. The Partnership incurred administrative expenses of $257,957 during the year ended December 31, 2019. The Partnership incurred administrative expenses of $281,333 during the year ended December 31, 2018. The General Partner pays all administrative expenses in excess of 0.25% per annum of the Partnership’s average month-end net assets.  The Partnership is prohibited from making any loans.

 

 

Item 14.

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

 

(1)

Audit Fees

 

The aggregate fees for professional services rendered by Deloitte & Touche LLP in connection with their audit of the Partnership’s financial statements in connection with the statutory and regulatory filings for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were approximately $120,000 for each year.

 

(2)

Audit-Related Fees

 

The Partnership did not engage Deloitte & Touche LLP for internal control consulting services.

 

(3)

Tax Fees

 

The Partnership did not engage Deloitte & Touche LLP for professional services for tax compliance, advice or planning services.

 

(4)

All Other Fees

 

There were no other fees for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.

 

(5)

Pre-Approval Policies

 

The board of directors of the General Partner pre-approves the engagement of the Partnership’s auditor for all services to be provided by the auditor.

 

PART IV

 

Item 15.

Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

 

(a)(1)

Financial Statements

 

The following are included with the 2019 Annual Report to Security Holders, a copy of which is filed herewith as Exhibit 13.01.

 

Affirmation of Millburn Ridgefield Corporation

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Statements of Financial Condition

Condensed Schedules of Investments

Statements of Operations

Statements of Changes in Partners’ Capital

Statements of Financial Highlights

Notes to Financial Statements

 

(a)(2)

Financial Statement Schedules

 

All Schedules are omitted for the reason that they are not required or are not applicable because equivalent information has been included in the financial statements or the notes thereto.

 

 

(a)(3)

Exhibits as required by Item 601 of Regulation S-K

 

The following exhibits are included herewith.

 

Designation		Description
13.01		2019 Annual Report to Security Holders
31.01		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.02		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.03		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.04		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Financial Officer
32.01		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer
32.02		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer
32.03		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer
32.04		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Financial Officer
101.INS		XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

 

The following exhibit was filed by the Partnership as a part of its Annual Report on Form 10-K (Reg. No. 000-50725) filed on March 29, 2017 and is incorporated herein by reference.

 

Exhibit Number		Description of Document
3.02		Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Nestor Partners

 

The following exhibits were filed by the Partnership as a part of its Registration Statement on Form 10 (Reg. No. 000-50725) on April 29, 2004 and are incorporated herein by reference.

 

Exhibit Number		Description of Document
3.01		Amended and Restated Certificate of Limited Partnership of Nestor Partners
10.04		Form of Selling Agreement

 

Item 16.

Form 10-K Summary

 

None.

 

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, on the 14th day of April, 2020.

 

	NESTOR PARTNERS
	By:	Millburn Ridgefield Corporation,
		General Partner
	By:	/s/ Harvey Beker
		Harvey Beker
		Chairman

 

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 General Partner of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the date indicated.

 

Signature		Title with General Partner		Date
/s/ Harvey Beker		Chairman		April 14, 2020
Harvey Beker		(Director)
/s/ Barry Goodman		Co-Chief Executive Officer		April 14, 2020
Barry Goodman		(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Grant N. Smith		Co-Chief Executive Officer		April 14, 2020
Grant N. Smith		(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Gregg Buckbinder		President and Chief Operating Officer		April 14, 2020
Gregg Buckbinder		(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Michael W. Carter		Vice President		April 14, 2020
Michael W. Carter		(Principal Accounting Officer)
/s/ Ilon Wu		Chief Financial Officer		April 14, 2020
Ilon Wu		(Principal Financial Officer)

 

(Being the principal executive officers, the principal financial officer and principal accounting officer, and a majority of the directors of Millburn Ridgefield Corporation)

 

 

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

The following exhibits are included herewith.

 

Designation		Description
13.01		2019 Annual Report to Security Holders
31.01		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.02		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.03		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.04		Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Financial Officer
32.01		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer
32.02		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer
32.03		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer
32.04		Section 1350 Certification of Principal Financial Officer
101.INS		XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE		XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

 

The following exhibit was filed by the Partnership as a part of its Annual Report on Form 10-K (Reg. No. 000-50725) filed on March 29, 2017 and is incorporated herein by reference.

 

Exhibit Number		Description of Document
3.02		Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Nestor Partners

 

The following exhibits were filed by the Partnership as a part of its Registration Statement on Form 10 (Reg. No. 000-50725) on April 29, 2004 and are incorporated herein by reference.

 

Exhibit Number		Description of Document
3.01		Amended and Restated Certificate of Limited Partnership of Nestor Partners
10.04		Form of Selling Agreement

 

 

20