From MoneyWeb
For the second time in three years the Aylett Equity Prescient Fund has been named by Morningstar as the Best South African Equity Fund. After winning the category in 2017, the fund was named as the 2019 winner at the Morningstar South Africa Fund Awards on Wednesday evening.
The boutique manager also took a second award when the Aylett Balanced Prescient Fund won in the category for Best Aggressive Allocation Fund. This category covers multi-asset funds that invest both in South Africa and internationally.
This recognition for Aylett Fund Managers confirms the company’s status as one of the top-performing boutiques in the country over recent years. The Aylett Balanced Prescient Fund was also recognised at the 2019 Raging Bull Awards as the best South African multi-asset low equity fund for risk-adjusted performance over five years.
The Morningstar South Africa Fund Awards recognise the unit trusts that have delivered the best risk-adjusted return over three and five years. In assessing fund performance, the Morningstar methodology penalises downside variation in fund returns more than upside volatility.
This is the second consecutive year that a local boutique manager has stood out at the Morningstar awards. Last year NFB Asset Management won in both the Best Moderate Allocation Fund and Best Cautious Allocation Fund categories.
NFB was recognised again this year again, with the NFB Ci Managed Fund (previously named the NFB Ci Balanced Fund of Funds) taking the award for the Best Moderate Allocation Fund. The NFB Ci Stable Fund (previously named the NFB Ci Cautious Fund of Funds) was runner-up in the category for Best Cautious Allocation Fund.
Across the seven award categories, five were won by smaller asset managers. Allan Gray and Absa were the only two of the big houses to take awards.
The full list of fund winners is below:
Best South African Equity Fund
Winner: Aylett Equity Prescient Fund
Runner-up: ClucasGray Equity Prescient Fund
Best Global Equity Fund
Winner: Melville Douglas SFL Global Equity Fund
Runner-up: Investec GSF Global Franchise Fund
Best Aggressive Allocation Fund
Winner: Aylett Balanced Prescient Fund
Runner-up: Obsidian SCI Balanced Fund
Best Moderate Allocation Fund
Winner: NFB Ci Managed Fund
Runner-up: Discovery Moderate Balanced Fund
Best Cautious Allocation Fund
Winner: Absa Inflation Beater Fund
Runner-up: NFB Ci Stable Fund
Best Flexible Allocation Fund
Winner: Platinum BCI Worldwide Flexible Fund
Runner-up: PSG Flexible Fund
Best Bond Fund
Winner: Allan Gray Bond Fund
Runner-up: Absa Bond Fund
This theme also carried through into the major awards for the night, which recognised the top fund companies. In the category for smaller fund range, all three finalists were smaller fund managers, with NFB recognised as the top-performer.
Best Fund House: Smaller Fund Range
Winner: NFB Asset Management
Finalist: Platinum Portfolios
Finalist: Fairtree Asset Management
The award for the best fund house with a larger fund range, Nedgroup Investments was named as the winner. Most of its ‘best of breed’ funds are managed by smaller managers such as Aylett, Truffle, Abax and Electus.
In the same category, PSG Asset Management was one of the finalists.
Best Fund House: Larger Fund Range
Winner: Nedgroup Investments
Finalist: PSG Asset Management
Finalist: Investec Asset Management
Source/credit: Money web