PSG retains position as best manager of SA unit trusts, PlexCrown ratings say

PSG Asset Management has retained its position as South Africa’s number-one unit trust management company at the end of the second quarter, according to the PlexCrown ratings of management companies. Nedgroup Investments retained its top position as manager of offshore funds.

Companies are ranked based on the PlexCrown ratings for the risk-adjusted performance of their qualifying funds over three and five years, and these range from the lowest rating of one PlexCrown to the highest rating of five PlexCrowns, with three PlexCrowns representing average performance.

The top five domestic companies at the end of June were: PSG (4.503 PlexCrowns), Allan Gray (4.316), Nedgroup Investments (3.921), Coronation Fund Managers (3.624) and Prudential Investment Managers (3.599). (Note that some management companies do not qualify for the rankings, because they do not have funds in all the required categories.)

PSG, which has led the field from the first quarter, after taking over from Allan Gray, was ranked on seven funds. Of these, five earned five PlexCrowns at the end of June: the PSG Equity Fund, Diversified Income Fund, Balanced Fund, Flexible Fund and Stable Fund.

Allan Gray, which came second, was ranked on eight funds. Of these, two earned five PlexCrowns and five earned four PlexCrowns. The funds with five PlexCrowns were the Allan Gray Balanced Fund and the Allan Gray-Orbis Global Fund of Funds.

Nedgroup Investments, which came third, was ranked on 20 funds. Of these, nine earned the top rating of five PlexCrowns: the Nedgroup Investments Bravata Worldwide Flexible Fund, Nedgroup Investments Global Cautious Feeder Fund, Global Flexible Feeder Fund, Entrepreneur Fund, Financials Fund, Private Wealth Equity Fund, Flexible Income Fund, Balanced Fund and Opportunity Fund.

The following funds of the unit trust managers in fourth and fifth place, Coronation and Prudential respectively, earned five PlexCrowns: the Coronation Industrial Fund, Bond Fund and Jibar Plus Fund, and the Prudential Balanced Fund.

OFFSHORE MANAGERS

The top offshore management companies at the end of June were Nedgroup Investments (5.000 PlexCrowns), while three companies shared second place with 3.750 PlexCrowns each: Investec Asset Management, whose offshore operation is based in London; Investment Solutions (now called Alexander Forbes Investments); and PineBridge Investments, a global asset manager based in the United States. The offshore funds are denominated in currencies other than the rand.

All three of Nedgroup Investments’s qualifying offshore funds attained five PlexCrowns. They were the Nedgroup Investments Global Cautious Fund, Global Flexible Fund and Global Equity Fund.

Among the runners-up, the following funds earned five PlexCrowns: the Investec GSF Global Franchise Fund, Investment Solutions’s AF Strategic Global Balanced Fund, and three PineBridge funds: its Asia ex Japan Small Cap Equity Fund, Global Focus Equity Fund and US Large Cap Research Enhanced Fund.

Only offshore funds that are approved by the Financial Services Board are allowed to be marketed to South African investors.

martin.hesse@inl.co.za