Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity and M&G were all double winners at this year’s PA Fund Awards – though the 2020 vintage was notable for the broad spread of asset management groups recognised overall.
Fidelity picked up platinum awards in two passive fund categories, along with five gold awards, while Artemis scooped both the US Equity and US Smaller Companies platinum awards. M&G topped two of the four fixed income categories while Baillie Gifford won platinum for its Global Discovery and Japanese funds.
In pictures: PA Fund Awards 2020
In recognition of the growing variety of assets UK fund selectors need to be considering for their clients, the awards included Infrastructure and Private Assets categories for the first time, as well as a specific ESG fund accolade, which was won by Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth.
The platinum and gold winners across a total of 27 categories were revealed at a gala lunch held at prestigious City of London venue The Ned on 30 January 2020. All the shortlists and winners, along with the methodology underpinning the awards, can be viewed below.
‘Breadth and depth of quality’
Portfolio Adviser group editor Julian Marr said: “When it comes to fund selection, portfolios risk growing ever more homogenous, so we wanted our awards to reflect the breadth and depth of quality funds and managers available.
“As such the Portfolio Adviser Fund Awards are not intended to be a reward for past performance, for ‘the usual suspects’ or simply for those with the largest sales and marketing budgets. Instead, they are deliberately designed to reward those funds that, in the opinion of our panel of top UK fund selectors, are best placed to deliver clients strong risk-adjusted future returns.”
This year’s panel of judges comprised: Aberdeen Standard Investments’ Multi-Manager Strategies Team, Ryan Hughes of AJ Bell, Nathan Sweeney of Architas, Shane Balkham of Beaufort Investment, Paul Green of BMO Global Asset Management, Ben Willis of Chase de Vere, Darius McDermott of Chelsea FS, James Calder of City Asset Management, Jeremy Ward of Coutts & Co, Ayesha Akbar of Fidelity Multi Asset, Juliet Schooling Latter of FundCalibre, Rory Maguire of Fundhouse, James Sullivan of MitonOptimal, Abika Martin of Parmenion, Ian Rees of Premier Fund Managers, Alex Moore of Rathbones, Ben Stoves of Rowan Dartington, Paris Jordan of Sanlam UK, Tony Lawrence of 7IM, Charlie Lloyd of Skerritts, James Burns of Smith & Williamson, Victoria Hasler of Square Mile, Ben Seager-Scott of Tilney, Gill Hutchison of The Adviser Centre and Richard Philbin of Wellian Investment Solutions.
Morningstar Investment Management chief investment officer EMEA Dan Kemp offered an extra layer of due diligence by verifying all the eventual winners fulfilled the requisite criteria. “The PA Fund Awards would not have been possible without the considerable amount of insight, time and effort from all our expert judges,” said Marr. “Our sincere thanks to all of them and, of course, many congratulations to all this year’s winners from everyone at Portfolio Adviser.”
PA Fund Awards 2020: Shortlists and winners
UK Equity
Investec UK Alpha
JOHCM UK Dynamic – Platinum
Liontrust Special Situations – Gold
Man GLG Undervalued Assets
UK Equity Income
Artemis Income
TB Evenlode Income – Gold
Man GLG UK Income – Platinum
Schroder Income
UK Passive
Fidelity Index UK – Platinum
iShares UK Equity Index
Legal & General UK Index Trust – Gold
Vanguard FTSE UK All Share Index
UK Smaller Companies
Aberforth UK Smaller Companies
LF Gresham House UK Micro Cap – Platinum
Merian UK Smaller Companies – Gold
TB Amati UK Smaller Companies
ESG
Impax Environmental Markets – Gold
Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth – Platinum
Pictet Global Environmental Opportunities
Stewart Investors Worldwide Sustainability
Private Assets
HG Capital
NB Private Equity Partners – Platinum
Princess Private Equity Holding – Gold
Infrastructure
First State Global Listed Infrastructure – Gold
Lazard Global Listed Infrastructure Equity – Platinum
Legg Mason IF RARE Global Infrastructure Income
VT Gravis UK Infrastructure Income
Property
BMO European Real Estate Securities
Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF – Gold
Kames Property Income
Legal & General UK Property – Platinum
Absolute Return
Merian UK Specialist Equity
Natixis H2O MultiReturns – Gold
SVS Church House Tenax Absolute Return Strategies
Jupiter Absolute Return – Platinum
UK Fixed Income
BlackRock Corporate Bond – Gold
Liontrust Monthly Income Bond
Royal London Corporate Bond
TwentyFour Corporate Bond – Platinum
Developed Market Fixed Income
Janus Henderson Strategic Bond – Gold
M&G Global Macro Bond – Platinum
PIMCO Global Investment Grade
Royal London Short Duration Global High Yield Bond
Emerging Markets Fixed Income
Barings Emerging Markets Debt Blended Total Return
Fidelity Funds – Emerging Market Debt – Gold
M&G Emerging Markets Bond – Platinum
Vontobel Fund – Emerging Markets Debt
Unconstrained Fixed Income
Allianz Strategic Bond – Platinum
Baillie Gifford Strategic Bond
Janus Henderson Strategic Bond – Gold
Jupiter Strategic Bond
Europe Equity
BlackRock Continental European Income – Platinum
BlackRock European Dynamic
LF Miton European Opportunities
TM CRUX European Special Situations – Gold
Europe Passive
Fidelity Index Europe ex UK
HSBC European Index – Platinum
iShares Continental European Equity Index – Gold
Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe ex UK Equity Index
Europe Smaller Companies
Baring Europe Select Trust – Platinum
Montanaro European Smaller Companies – Gold
Threadneedle European Smaller Companies
T. Rowe Price European Smaller Companies Equity
US Equity
Artemis US Select – Platinum
Edgewood L Select – US Select Growth – Gold
JPM US Equity Income
LF Miton US Opportunities
US Passive
Fidelity Index US – Platinum
HSBC American Index – Gold
iShares US Equity Index
L&G US Index Trust
US Smaller Companies
Artemis US Smaller Companies – Platinum
Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies – Gold
Hermes US SMID Equity
T. Rowe Price US Smaller Companies Equity
Japan Equity
Baillie Gifford Japanese – Platinum
JPM Japan
Jupiter Japan Income
Man GLG Japan CoreAlpha – Gold
Asia excluding Japan Equity
Fidelity Asia Pacific Opportunities – Gold
Fidelity Asia
Hermes Asia ex-Japan Equity
Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company – Platinum
Global Emerging Markets Equity
Artemis Global Emerging Markets
Fidelity Emerging Markets – Gold
Hermes Global Emerging Markets Equity
RWC Global Emerging Markets – Platinum
International Equity
Fidelity Global Special Situations
Fundsmith Equity
Rathbone Global Opportunities – Gold
T. Rowe Price Global Focused Growth Equity – Platinum
International Equity Income
BNY Mellon Global Income – Platinum
Fidelity Global Dividend – Gold
Guinness Global Equity Income
TB Evenlode Global Income
International Passive
Fidelity Index World – Gold
L&G International Index Trust
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index – Platinum
International Smaller Companies
ASI Global Smaller Companies – Gold
Baillie Gifford Global Discovery – Platinum
Invesco Global Smaller Companies
Sector Specialist
BlackRock Gold & General
Polar Capital Global Insurance – Platinum
Polar Capital Technology Trust – Gold
Awards methodology
The criteria
All Portfolio Adviser Fund Awards judges are asked to address a single question when considering their nominations: “Looking ahead, for a brand-new client with cash to invest, an average risk tolerance for the asset class in question and an investment horizon of at least three years, what are your top three fund recommendations in each category?”
The judges are instructed their nominations should represent their confidence in the future returns generated, for a certain level of risk, of the funds they nominate. We encourage them to make use of whatever criteria they currently do to make fund selections for their or their firm’s portfolios.
The funds with the most judges’ nominations in each category make up the shortlists and those with the most and second-most recommendations respectively win the ‘platinum’ and ‘gold’ accolades.
The fund universe
We do not provide any initial shortlists of funds – preferring instead to rely on the expertise of our judging panel. As such, we ask them to include: UK-domiciled funds as well as offshore funds that are registered for sale in the UK; funds with at least a three-year track record; funds of any size – in other words, no minimum AUM; investment trusts; and exchange-traded funds and other passive funds.
On the other hand, the judges are asked to exclude: funds that are ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ closed; and funds that are not regulated. Morningstar once again kindly agreed to provide an extra layer of due diligence for the awards by verifying all the eventual winners do fulfil these criteria.
