PART I
Item 1.Business.
(a)General Development of Business. Ceres Tactical Systematic L.P. (formerly, Tactical Diversified Futures Fund L.P.) (the “Partnership”) is a limited partnership organized under the partnership laws of the State of New York on December 3, 2002 to engage, directly or indirectly, in the speculative trading of a diversified portfolio of commodity interests including futures, option, swap and forward contracts. The sectors traded include currencies, energy, grains, indices, U.S. andnon-U.S. interest rates, livestock, metals and softs. The commodity interests that are traded by the Partnership directly or indirectly through its investment in the Funds (as defined below) are volatile and involve a high degree of market risk. The General Partner (as defined below) may also determine to invest up to all of the Partnership’s assets (directly or indirectly through its investment in the Funds) in United States (“U.S.”) Treasury bills and/or money market mutual funds, including money market mutual funds managed by Morgan Stanley or its affiliates.
A Registration Statement on Form S-1 relating to the public offering of 300,000 redeemable units of limited partnership interest (“Redeemable Units”) became effective March 27, 2003. Between March 27, 2003 (commencement of the offering period) and April 30, 2003, 36,616 Redeemable Units were publicly offered at $1,000 per Redeemable Unit. The proceeds of the initial public offering were held in an escrow account until April 30, 2003, at which time they were turned over to the Partnership for trading.
A second Registration Statement on FormS-1 relating to the public offering of 1,000,000 Redeemable Units (including the 300,000 Redeemable Units that had been previously registered) became effective on December 4, 2003. As of that date, 260,732.3028 Redeemable Units had been sold.
A third Registration Statement on FormS-1 relating to the public offering of 2,000,000 Redeemable Units (including the 1,000,000 Redeemable Units that had been previously registered) became effective on October 7, 2004. As of that date, 807,449.3782 Redeemable Units had been sold.
A fourth Registration Statement on FormS-1 relating to the public offering of 2,000,000 Redeemable Units previously registered became effective on June 30, 2005. As of that date, 1,027,701.7549 Redeemable Units had been sold. The public offering of Redeemable Units terminated on November 30, 2008. The Partnership currently privately and continuously offers Redeemable Units to qualified investors. There is no maximum number of Redeemable Units that may be sold by the Partnership.
Subscriptions of additional Redeemable Units and additional General Partner contributions and redemptions of Redeemable Units for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 are reported in the Statements of Changes in Partners’ Capital under “Item 8.Financial Statements and SupplementaryData.”
Ceres Managed Futures LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, acts as the general partner (the “General Partner”) and commodity pool operator of the Partnership, is the trading manager (the “Trading Manager”) of ADG Master (as defined below), Aquantum Master (as defined below) and FORT Contrarian Master (as defined below), and was the Trading Manager of AE Capital Master (as defined below) and Boronia I, LLC (as defined below). As of January 1, 2017, the General Partner became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc. (“MSD Holdings”). MSD Holdings is ultimately owned by Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is a publicly held company whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Morgan Stanley is engaged in various financial services and other businesses. Prior to January 1, 2017, the General Partner was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Holdings LLC.
During the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Partnership’s/Funds’ commodity broker was Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“MS&Co.”), a registered futures commission merchant. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“JPMorgan”) was also a foreign exchange forward counterparty for certain Funds. During prior periods included in this report, the Partnership/Funds deposited a portion of their cash innon-trading bank accounts at JPMorgan.
Effective September 13, 2017, the Partnership changed its name from Tactical Diversified Futures Fund L.P. to Ceres Tactical Systematic L.P.
As of December 31, 2019, all trading decisions are made for the Partnership by ADG Capital Management LLP (“ADG”), Aquantum GmbH (“Aquantum”), FORT, L.P. (“FORT”) and ISAM Systematic Management (“ISAM SM”) (each an “Advisor” and, collectively, the “Advisors”), each of which is a registered commodity trading advisor. Effective June 30, 2019, the General Partner terminated SECOR Capital Advisors, LP (“SECOR”) as an Advisor to the Partnership. Effective April 3, 2019, the General Partner terminated AE Capital Pty Limited (“AE Capital”) as an Advisor to the Partnership. Effective October 1, 2018, the Partnership, the General Partner, The Cambridge Strategy (Asset Management) Limited (“Cambridge”) and Mesirow Financial International UK Limited (“Mesirow”) entered into a novation, assignment and assumption agreement, dated September 28, 2018, pursuant to which Cambridge transferred all of its future rights, obligations, and liabilities under that certain amended and restated management agreement, by and among the General Partner, the Partnership and Cambridge, dated as of December 1, 2015, as amended January 1, 2018 (collectively, the “Cambridge Initial Advisory Agreement”), to Mesirow. As of October 1, 2018 and until its termination effective March 31, 2019, Mesirow had undertaken to perform the Cambridge Initial Advisory Agreement and be bound by its terms in every way as if it were the original party to it in place of Cambridge. Effective November 1, 2018, the Partnership, the General Partner, ISAM (USA) LLC, ISAM Funds (UK) Limited, International Standard Asset Management (“ISAM”) and ISAM SM entered into a novation agreement, dated October 25, 2018, pursuant to which ISAM transferred all of its future rights, obligations, and liabilities under that certain amended and restated management agreement, by and among the General Partner, the Partnership, ISAM, ISAM (USA) LLC and ISAM Funds (UK) Limited, dated as of November 1, 2017 (the “ISAM Initial Advisory Agreement”), to ISAM SM. As of November 1, 2018, ISAM SM has undertaken to perform the ISAM Initial Advisory Agreement and be bound by its terms in every way as if it were the original party in place of ISAM. Effective the close of business on December 31, 2017, Willowbridge Associates Inc. (“Willowbridge”), Aspect Capital Limited (“Aspect”), Graham Capital Management, L.P. (“Graham”) and Boronia Capital Pty. Ltd. (“Boronia”) ceased to act as commodity trading advisors to the Partnership. Effective September 30, 2016, JE Moody & Company LLC (“JE Moody”) ceased to act as a commodity trading advisor to the Partnership. Effective June 30, 2016, Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited (“Altis”) ceased to act as a commodity trading advisor to the Partnership. Reference herein to “Advisors” may include, as relevant, AE Capital, Altis, Aspect, Boronia, Cambridge, Graham, ISAM, JE Moody, Mesirow, SECOR and Willowbridge. Each Advisor is allocated a portion of the Partnership’s assets to manage. The Partnership invests the portion of its assets allocated to each of the Advisors either directly, through individually managed accounts, or indirectly, through its investment in the Funds.
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