Colonial has become the first fund manager to win outright back-to-back Money Management Fund Manager of the Year awards.
It is the third time in four years that Colonial has bagged the top funds management award, making Colonial the most successful fund manager of the second half of the 90s. Only this year’s third place winner BT Funds Management has won more Fund Manager of the Year trophies with four gongs between 1988 and 1995.
Colonial First State managing director Chris Cuffe was presented with the accolade at last week’s gala charity ball at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
Colonial’s win is a ringing endorsement for the group’s funds management executives who have consistently achieved top performance across all major asset classes in recent years.
It is a particularly sweet victory for Colonial given the upheavals the group has witnessed in recent times. In fact, the three victories for the investment team have been under three separate identities. In 1996, the group won under the guise of First State, in 1998 as Colonial First State and this year as Colonial after the group integrated funds from Colonial’s 1998 acquisitions of Legal & General and Prudential.
The win is also a shot in the arm for Colonial’s new owners the Commonwealth Bank. A good deal of the $8 billion price tag the bank has payed for Colonial is based on its strong active investment team and the $48 billion it manages on behalf of its clients.
Colonial’s win was based on strong performances across all investment classes. In fact, it is only the second fund manager to win the overall award without picking up a win for any particular category. The group grabbed second spot in both the Australian equities and property awards and its multi-sector funds also performed strongly.
Colonial was not the only fund manager in the winer’s circle who scored well over a number of categories. Lend Lease’s funds management subsidiary MLC was awarded the overall second place after bagging second place in both the international equities and multi-sector categories.
Like the other overall award finalists, MLC’s investment team kept its eye on the eight ball at a time of great change within the structure of the group. Its achievement is an endorsement of the manage-the-manager style the group adopted a number of years ago.
If there was an award for the best performance by a fund manager in the times of great adversity, it would have to go to BT Funds Management. The group pulled off third place in the overall award at a time when it had immense instability in the group as a result of its change in ownership.
Like its colleagues on the funds management winners podium, it achieved strong results across all investment categories and took out the prize in the multi-sector award.
1999 Money Management Fund Manager of the Year
Colonial
MLC
BT Funds Management
