Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has received the Overall Large Group accolade in this year’s Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards for the UK, the results of which were revealed on Thursday.
Repeating the double it achieved last year, GSAM also won the Large Bonds Group award.
Mirova won the corresponding Small Bonds Group award while Baillie Gifford and Seilern Investment Management picked up the two big equity gongs – respectively for Large Equity Group and Small Equity Group.
Completing the company awards, Legg Mason Investors won Large Mixed Asset Group while the Small Mixed Asset Group accolade went to the team at Chelsea Financial Services.
Among funds to win individual awards for their showing over three years were Premier Miton UK Growth (Equity UK), Baillie Gifford American (Equity US), Baillie Gifford European (Equity Europe ex UK), Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond (Bond GBP Corporates), Allianz Strategic Bond (Bond Global GBP) and Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust (Mixed Asset GBP Balanced).
The winners of the 20 largest award classifications by assets under management (AUM) on a three-year timeframe can be viewed in the table below. You can view all the winners of the 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards here.
Risk-adjusted performance
In total, some 250 funds won individual awards across three, five and 10-year timeframes. “All the winners of the 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards should be hugely proud of their achievements,” said the group’s head of research, UK & Ireland Dewi John.
“The awards are unique in that they are the only ones based entirely on objective, quantitative criteria, recognising exceptional outperformance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a fund’s peers. There is no bias and no nomination process. Each award is entirely data-derived.”
Refinitiv Lipper has been running its fund awards for three decades, in that time extending its coverage to nearly 20 major markets around the world. The process is underpinned by Refinitiv Lipper’s fund data and proprietary quantitative methodology.
The universe for the awards is made up of mutual funds from across the asset classes: equity, bond, mixed-asset, commodity and alternatives. To be eligible, funds must demonstrate a minimum of three years’ performance history and be registered for sale in the UK.
“To ensure we compare like with like, we classify funds by type, asset class, country, currency, term and more,” said John. “Each fund award is based on one of our granular and clearly defined Lipper Global Classifications.
“The group awards, meanwhile, are won by those fund providers who have scored the highest across their fund ranges in each asset class, and overall. We recognise excellence both in large providers and small, so that the skill demonstrated in the latter is not swamped by the larger providers. Taken all together, this allows investors to make like-for-like comparisons between funds that share meaningful characteristics.”
Lipper Fund Awards 2021 – 20 largest award classifications, over three years, by AUM
| Award classification | Fund name | Fund Adviser | Fund count |
| Absolute Return GBP High | LF Brook Absolute Return Sterling Rtl Acc | Odey AM | 13 |
| Absolute Return GBP Low | LF Ruffer Total Return Fund O Acc | Ruffer | 12 |
| Bond GBP Corporates | Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond C Acc GBP | Schroder IM | 71 |
| Bond GBP Government | MGI UK Long Gilt I1 GBP | Mercer Global Investments | 19 |
| Bond Global GBP | Allianz Strategic Bond A | Allianz Global Investors | 47 |
| Bond Global High Yield GBP | MI TwentyFour Focus Bond A Gross Inc | TwentyFour AM | 20 |
| Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan | Baillie Gifford Pacific A Acc | Baillie Gifford | 153 |
| Equity Emerging Mkts Global | MS INVF Emerging Leaders Equity A USD | Morgan Stanley IM | 188 |
| Equity Europe ex UK | Baillie Gifford European A Acc | Baillie Gifford | 94 |
| Equity Global | Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth B Acc | Baillie Gifford | 501 |
| Equity Global Income | Baillie Gifford Global Income Growth A Acc | Baillie Gifford | 63 |
| Equity Japan | FSSA Japan Equity VI Acc EUR | First Sentier Investors | 104 |
| Equity UK | Premier Miton UK Growth A Inc | Premier Fund Managers | 182 |
| Equity UK Income | Santander Equity Income Ret Inc | Santander AM UK | 79 |
| Equity UK Sm&Mid Cap | MI Chelverton UK Equity Growth B Acc | Chelverton AM | 66 |
| Equity US | Baillie Gifford American A Acc | Baillie Gifford | 208 |
| Mixed Asset GBP Aggressive | Baillie Gifford Managed A Acc | Baillie Gifford | 192 |
| Mixed Asset GBP Balanced | Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust A Inc | Royal London AM | 265 |
| Mixed Asset GBP Conservative | Royal London Sustainable Mngd Gro Trust B Acc | Royal London AM | 95 |
| Mixed Asset GBP Flexible | Credo Growth A Retail Acc GBP | Credo Capital | 72 |
Note: ‘Fund count’ refers to the number of funds under consideration for a particular award classification. Source: Refinitiv Lipper
