Fairtree leads fund managers in Morningstar rankings

Moneyweb

Boutique asset manager Fairtree Capital tops the latest South African fund manager rankings compiled by independent research house Morningstar.

The Morningstar rankings are designed to compare asset managers based on the average ratings of their unit trusts at the end of each quarter.

The list only includes managers with assets under management of at least R5 billion. The December 2017 rankings are only the second time Fairtree has qualified. It entered the rankings in the third quarter of last year in the number one spot on the asset-weighted ratings table and has maintained that position.

Morningstar compiles two lists – asset-weighted ratings and equal-weighted ratings. The former takes into account the size of each of the firm’s unit trusts and the larger funds make a proportionally higher contribution to the overall score, while the equal-weighted ratings are a simple average of the fund scores.

Although Fairtree was listed first in the asset-weighted table, it comes second to Allan Gray in the equal-weighted ratings. This is because its smaller flexible balanced and balanced funds are not rated as highly as its equity and fixed-income offerings.

Prudential Investment Managers is the only other manager to appear in the top five on both lists. It is rated third in both.

The top five asset managers (minimum R5 billion), as sorted by asset-weighting rating: Fairtree Capital, Allan Gray Unit Trust Management, Prudential Investment Managers, PSG Collective Investments and Personal Trust International.

The top five asset managers, as sorted by equal-weighting rating: Allan Gray Unit Trust Management, Fairtree Capital, Prudential Investment Managers, Coronation and Sygnia Collective Investments.