Seven funds have been awarded an ‘Elite’ rating by Fundcalibre, including the Fidelity European and Orbis Global Balanced strategies.
The other funds to receive the award were FSSA Asia Focus, Invesco Global Emerging Markets, Liontrust European Dynamic, Premier Miton Strategic Monthly Income Bond, and the TB Evenlode Global Equity strategy.
Allianz UK Listed Opportunities, JPM Climate Change Solutions, and the R&M Global Sustainable Opportunities were all awarded the ‘Elite Radar’ rating.
Managed by Marcel Stotzel and Sam Morse, the £4.1bn Fidelity European strategy has returned 50.27% over the last five years, compared to the IA Europe ex-UK sector’s 29.59% average.
Juliet Schooling Latter, research director at FundCalibre, noted the strategy’s “disciplined and cautious long-term focus”.
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Meanwhile, Fundcalibre also gave the elite tag to Liontrust’s European Dynamic strategy. Schooling Latter praised the strategy, saying Fundcalibre was “very impressed” by the “rigorous process and collaborative approach that has helped contribute to stellar long-term performance”.
The £170m Orbis Global Balanced fund has been managed by Alec Cutler since 2014. According to FE Fundinfo, the strategy is a top quartile performer in the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector over one, three and five years.
Over the last decade, it has doubled the returns of its sector, up 121.95% against the sector average’s 60.77%.
Schooling Latter said: “The manager of this fund scours the world for the best investment opportunities across a number of asset classes including equities, fixed income, and commodities.
“He believes one of the key advantages of the portfolio is the ability to focus on best ideas and making them ‘fight for capital’, with every holding needing to be an active contributor to the fund. We also like the unique fee structure which means investors pay when the fund outperforms but are refunded in periods of underperformance.”
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The FSSA Asia Focus fund, managed by First Sentier Investors, places an emphasis on governance and investing in Asian firms demonstrating sustainable growth.
Of the £275m Invesco Global Emerging Markets strategy, Schooling Latter added: “This is a highly active fund that consists of around 50 best ideas across emerging markets. Its team has a tight focus on valuation and contrarianism.
“The high esteem in which we hold this fund has been backed up by its outstanding long-term track record. It benefits from an adaptable investment style that allows it to exploit changing market conditions and inefficiencies effectively.”
The fund has returned 32.08% over five years, compared to the IA Global Emerging Markets sector which was up 7.65%.
The £478m Premier Miton Strategic Monthly Income Bond fund opened in 2020 and is managed by Lloyd Harris and Simon Prior.
Fundcalibre noted: “This fund is very active in nature and delivers a healthy yield, with the added bonus of it being paid monthly.”
The £253m TB Evenlode Global Equity fund, managed by Chris Elliottt and James Knoedler, launched in July 2020. Since launch, it has returned 38.93%, against the IA Global average of 21.71%.
Schooling Latter added: ““Evenlode focuses exclusively on quality companies, which are characterised by their ability to achieve sustainable growth over time while minimising the need for additional capital reinvestment.
“This fund is a concentrated portfolio of these quality companies from across the world. This fund has benefitted from having two very impressive fund managers and a clear and proven investment process used by the team across its strategies.”
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