Candice Paine, head of retail at Sanlam Investment Management
Strong, consistent investment performance saw Sanlam Collective Investments (SCI) named runner up in the Best Large Fund House category in the Morningstar Awards, held in Cape Town on Wednesday night. This position, second only to Nedgroup, made SCI the top ranked South African in-house manager in the world’s leading unit trust awards.
The category considered 19 fund houses, including offshore houses currently marketing funds in South Africa, with at least 10 funds that each have a minimum three-year record in the Morningstar database. The awards aim to recognise funds and fund groups that have added the most value within the context of a relevant peer group for investors over the past year and over the longer-term. SCI is inclusive of funds from the following businesses within Sanlam Investments – Sanlam Investment Management (SIM), Sanlam International Investment Partners (SIIP), Sanlam Multi Manager International (SMMI), SIM Global and Sanlam Private Investments (SPI).
Candice Paine, head of retail at Sanlam Investment Management, says, “Our position in the large fund house category is an indication of the strength and consistency of our investment team and the success of our investment strategy. It also provides further confirmation of the depth and breadth of our investment offering – and the great strides we have made in enhancing investment performance within our collective investment schemes. We were particularly pleased to be the top ranked in-house fund manager, drawing on our internal capabilities and expertise to deliver outstanding performance.”
Sanlam runs a lean and modern unit trust business. “We are an active asset manager that uses a pragmatic, value-driven investment style and we believe this, coupled with a watertight retail strategy, is the reason for the delivery of 2010’s outstanding, broad-based performance, as well as our consistent longer-term performance. Equally, we believe our focus on delivering exceptional service and performance to our clients has played a role in this success.”
The judging panel uses a scoring system based on quantitative analysis, which measures the performance of each entrant. Morningstar also conducts a qualitative review of each fund house to establish whether there are circumstances that may result in the company being unable to repeat its past performance. These include structural changes such as a management team walk out, substantial increases in fund expenses or being taken over by another firm.
Sanlam is a previous winner at the Morningstar Fund Awards. In 2008, the SMMI balanced fund of funds received a Morningstar award for being the best fund in the Prudential Medium Equity Category on a risk adjusted basis. In 2007, the SIM small cap fund was the best performing unit trust over a five-year period and the best performing fund in its sector over a three- and five-year period. That year SIM won seven awards in total including the best performing balanced fund in its sector over a five-year period; the best value fund in its sector over five years and the top industrial fund over a one- and three-year period.
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