Lindsell Train’s James Bullock, Invesco’s William Lam and Schroders’ Masaki Taketsume are among 18 first-time entrants into FE Fundinfo’s Alpha Manager Hall of Fame this year.
In the annual rebalance, which highlights the top 10% of UK retail-facing managers over the course of their careers, managers such as Goldman Sachs’ Jeroen Brand, Pimco’s Daniel Ivascyn, Wellington’s Evan Ouellette and Axa IM’s Nicolas Trindade also received the accolade for the first time.
Alongside the 18 new entrants, four managers returned to the list having been featured once before: Tim Gregory, who runs the Vermeer Global fund; David Absolon, who heads up the Handelsbanken Defensive Multi Asset fund; Raymond Ma of Fidelity China Consumer; and King Fuei Lee, who manages the Schroder ISF Asian Equity Yield fund.
See also: Columbia Threadneedle Fund Watch: 39 funds achieve top-quartile gains over three years
A total of 10 fund managers have now managed to keep their place on the bill for 15 consecutive years. These are: Jupiter’s John Chatfeild-Roberts and Daniel Nickols; Columbia Threadneedle’s David Dudding; Liontrust’s Julian Fosh, Fidelity’s Leigh Himsworth and Jeremy Podger; FSSA’s Martin Lau; Slater Investments’ Mark Slater; Rathbone’s James Thomson and M&G’s Richard Woolnough.
From a group perspective, Fidelity boasts the largest number of FE Alpha Managers at 10, followed by JP Morgan at nine. Baillie Gifford, Schroders and Wellington Management Funds all have seven FE Alpha Managers, while Janus Henderson has six. Royal London Asset Management, Premier Miton and Jupiter each have five FE Alpha Managers.
Charles Younes, deputy chief investment officer at FE Investments, said: “The Alpha Manager Rating is our most consistent rating at FE Fundinfo, as it considers a manager’s track record across his or her entire investment career. That rating is therefore immune to short-term investment cycle and market rotations.
“Therefore the list of Alpha-rated managers tends to be unchanged year on year, although it is always great to find rising talents reaching this distinction. And the 2024 vintage is no different to previous years”.
