S&P rates Aviva Investors' SMA products

Ratings house, Standard & Poor's Fund Services has assigned its four-star ratings to two key Aviva Investors’ separately managed accounts (SMA) products.

The ratings house said the four-star rating had been applied to the Aviva Investors Dividend Builder SMA model portfolio and the Aviva Investors Core Opportunities SMA model portfolio.

The S&P analysis said the ratings indicated the ratings house had conviction that the manager would consistently generate risk-adjusted returns in excess of relevant investment objectives and relative to peers.

Commenting on the ratings, S&P fund analyst Rodney Lay said the ratings house’s level of conviction in the Australian large-cap equities team, headed by Glenn Hart, had grown in recent years.

“We view it as collectively well resourced and experienced. In addition, and despite having less portfolio-management experience than some of his peers, we view Nick Pashias as a very capable portfolio manager.”

Lay said that, overall, S&P was comfortable with the manager's operational processes, including the level of interaction with the SMA platform provider, and the monitoring of performance.

 “In our view, the model portfolio is constructed so as to mitigate some of the risks specific to SMA model portfolios. For instance, it is a longer buy-and-hold strategy than the base fund,” he said.