The Penta-crowns
IOOF and First Sentier Investors (FSI) lead the way when it comes to 5 Crown funds, but Colchester Global Investors has seen all four of its funds rated 5 Crowns in the latest FE fundinfo Crown Fund Ratings rebalance.
There were 21 managers that had all their funds rated 5 Crowns, although 15 of those were single fund managers.
Of the six managers with multiple 5 Crown funds, Colchester had four; Hyperion Asset Management and Simplicity NZ had three; and AtlasTrend, GQG Partners and Lakehouse Capital had two.
Colchester’s four funds put it at fifth spot in the overall tally, while both the top spot holders had eight funds which were FSI (20% of all funds) and IOOF (17%).
However, both IOOF and FSI suffered a drop-off compared to the last rebalance where IOOF had 10 funds with a 5 Crown rating and FSI had nine.
IOOF Cash Management Trust D and Strategic Cash Plus had dropped to 4 Crowns; while the CFS First Sentier US Short Duration High Yield was now rated 3 Crowns.
Macquarie Investment Management also had 10 funds with 5 Crowns in the last rebalance, but saw half of them drop to 4 Crowns.
Angela MacPherson, Colchester head of distribution – Australia, said the firm’s consistent success across all four funds was due to being disciplined regardless of market conditions of events.
“This has been on display throughout last year’s COVID-19 led market disruption and the recent volatility in yields,” MacPherson said.
“The 5 Crowns from FE fundinfo further confirms that we are delivering not only alpha to our clients, but also delivering it with lower relative volatility and ongoing consistency.
“Our long-term track record shows that we have been able to add value through a range of market crises and interest rate cycles, with our medium-term value investment approach being indifferent to economic and financial market cycles.”
Dan Farmer, IOOF chief investment officer, said its funds benefitted from scale brought from the ANZ Wealth acquisition, with increased allocations to skilled active managers in IOOF MultiSeries and IOOF Balanced Investor Trust.
“With the transition of pensions and investments funds to IOOF we have started to realise the scale and diversification benefits of our business integration for our clients,” Farmer said.
“In addition, fund alignment has allowed us with the opportunity to have more focussed planning and oversight, greater economies of scale with regards to manager allocations and strategies and more meaningful partnerships with our preferred managers.
“We have therefore increased allocations to skilled active managers in IOOF MultiSeries and have a continued focus on ensuring that we have high quality managers in the portfolios.”
Recommended for you
The global nature and geopolitical threats involved in investing in emerging markets can mean the job of an emerging market manager entails additional challenges than its developed markets counterpart.
Australian financial advice firms are increasingly looking towards outsourcing as a tool to optimise their business, two industry professionals share, freeing advisers to focus more on client-facing duties.
Retaining new entrants in the advice industry as they complete their Professional Year is a key focus for advice firms in 2024, with younger generations increasingly valuing workplace culture more than ever.
With Australians living and working longer than ever, there are calls from industry professionals to redefine the traditional concept of retirement to ensure it meets their needs.
