Recognises excellence in the management of multiple asset classes and strategies. In order to be eligible for the Fund Manager of the Year award, managers must have been nominated as a finalist in two or more categories. The winner is then determined by the total score the manager generates under Zenith’s proprietary scoring system for the number of category nominations and category wins.
Winner: Perpetual Investments
Zenith says: Perpetual was a nominee in three categories, including Australian equities – alternative strategies; diversified funds; and the highly competitive Australian equities – large cap category, where it was the award winner. Perpetual is well recognised for its excellence and long-term success in the management of Australian equities. This category win and the other nominations reflect the group’s outstanding investment capabilities and investment team across multiple asset classes. On this basis, Perpetual is a worthy winner of this year’s Fund Manager of the Year award.
Interview:
Perpetual’s breadth and depth of investment management talent across a range of asset classes makes it hard to beat, according to Perpetual’s general manager of distribution, Dean Winterton.
“Performance across Australian equities, fixed income and diversified strategies is first or second quartile across the board, across all time periods,” Winterton says.
“We’ve certainly been able to deliver a great period of performance for our investors and it’s fantastic to receive this award as recognition of that.”
Winterton says it’s “probably more appropriate to talk about what hasn’t changed” than what has changed in Perpetual’s approach to managing money over the past 12 months.
“Perpetual has always invested with a focus on quality and value; there’s no doubt that this been a great benefit for our portfolios over the last 12 to 18 months,” he says.
“We back this up with a strong, consistent process and the courage and discipline to follow that process through the cycle. We don’t expect to outperform under all conditions; however, over time we expect to outperform through the cycle, and it’s an integral part of the approach and investment culture of Perpetual.”
Winterton says portfolio managers are finding it harder to identify good opportunities as markets rally.
“The quality that we look for is still there,” he says. “However, valuations are getting expensive and market expectations are bordering on overly optimistic, given the continuing uncertainty in the global outlook.
“That being said, we have a large team across multiple asset classes, which means we can seek out opportunities that the market may have missed and profit when markets correct. Ultimately, we continue to focus on our clients with the aim of consistently delivering on their investment expectations.”
– Leng Yeow
Finalists:
– Magellan Asset Management
– Pimco
