Zenith has announced the results of its ‘Multi-Manager’ category, the first of three to be released as part of its 2014 Multi-Asset Sector Review. In total 20 funds received a rating, with Russell remaining the only manager to receive a ‘HIGHLY RECOMMENDED’ despite mounting competitive pressures and the existence of a pending organisational restructure. No change in ratings was noted across the remainder of category participants, with MLC, Advance and CFS FirstChoice all receiving ‘RECOMMENDED’ ratings.
Senior Investment Analyst Andrew Yap stated that “Zenith continues to view Russell as the strongest manager within the Multi-Manager category, with our elevated levels of conviction remaining testament to our collective assessment of Russell’s strong local leadership, its globally resourced team and scalable process. With further progress made with regard to implementation processes and risk management capabilities, we believe Russell remains well positioned to deliver to investors outcomes consistent with targeted objectives”. Yap added that “investment strategies offered by rated peers have also continued to show signs of evolution. This has been particularly evident in the areas of portfolio oversight and the addition of dedicated implementation teams and derivative specialists, making this category amongst the most competitive across Zenith’s Multi-Asset sector”.
In the weeks ahead, Zenith will release to market the ratings outcomes of its “Single Manager” and “Real Return” categories. In addition, a report summarising the key sector findings from all three categories will be published at the conclusion of the 2014 Multi-Asset Sector Review.
