Quiet optimism boosts returns
UBS Tactical Beta Growth has been named as the winner in the Multi-Sector category in this year's Money Management/Lonsec Fund Manager of the Year Awards.
UBS head of investment strategy, Tracey McNaughton, said the fund had returned in excess of 15 per cent over the past 12 months and was the best net performing fund offering within the suite of six tactical funds offered by the manager.
McNaughton said the fund combined the cost effectiveness of passive funds with the nimbleness of active asset allocation stemming from a valuation based investment philosophy that also incorporated market behaviour analysis to identify market mispricing.
"We also took linear trades and conducted relative value trades which has helped performance over the past 12 months." - McNaughton
"The strategy that got us here is to be cautiously optimistic on risk assets. We also took linear trades and conducted relative value trades which has helped performance over the past 12 months," McNaughton said. Appearing as a finalist for the second year was BT with its Active Balanced Fund, which BT Investment Management head of diversified strategies, Martyn Wild, said was benefitting from a reworking of its direction in 2010.
"We build portfolios that expect to pay off over three to five years and that is about getting the strategic positioning of portfolio right. Our plans are made five years in advance and we began the rebuild in 2010 and that positioning is starting to pay off in terms of risk and returning being where we want it to be," Wild said.
The winner of this category in 2014 - the Legg Mason Diversified Trust - returns this year as a finalist, with Martin Currie Australia chief investment officer, Reece Birtles, stating returns have been generated from high level sector based allocation process, combined with asset class level application of investment processes by portfolio managers.
Birtles said Legg Mason, which is the parent company of Martin Currie and responsible entity for the fund, has focused on increasing the fund's exposure to real assets, and overweighted equities and underweighted fixed income, leading to its placing among the finalists once again.
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Jason Spits
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