Allan Gray continues to reign supreme in PlexCrown Survey

Allan Gray has taken the honours as South Africa’s top-rated collective investment scheme management company for the fifth consecutive quarter according to the PlexCrown Survey for the quarter ended December 2009. The investment house was also recently awarded the coveted Raging Bull Award (sponsored by Personal Finance in association with PlexCrown and Profile Data), as the top domestic management company of 2009 based on the PlexCrown Fund Rating methodology.

According to Ryk de Klerk, director of PlexCrown Fund Ratings, Allan Gray achieved an astounding rating of 4,5 PlexCrowns (see Table 2) out of a maximum score of five and displayed stellar performances on both domestic and foreign rand-denominated fronts. Allan Gray’s funds scored highly in the PlexCrown Ratings based on risk-adjusted return measures that are time-weighted over three- and five-years.

“Four out of the investment house’s six qualifying funds achieved the highest PlexCrown Ratings of five PlexCrowns and topped the charts (see Table 1) in their respective subcategories – a truly remarkable achievement!” says De Klerk. These funds are:

* Allan Gray Stable Fund, which was the top-performing fund in the Domestic Asset Allocation Prudential Low Equity subcategory and second in the broader Domestic Asset Allocation Prudential category.

* Allan Gray Balanced Fund, which was the top-performing fund in the broader Domestic Asset Allocation Prudential category.

* Allan Gray-Orbis Global Fund of Funds, which was the top-performing fund in the Foreign Asset Allocation Flexible subcategory.

* Allan Gray-Orbis Global Equity Feeder Fund, which was the top-performing fund in the Foreign Equity General subcategory.

Both of Allan Gray’s other funds, Allan Gray Equity Fund and Allan Gray Bond Fund, achieved above-average ratings of 4 PlexCrowns, with the former ending in ninth position and the latter in sixth place in their respective subcategories.

Prudential was runner-up for the sixth quarter in a row. “Prudential’s consistent investment excellence is evident in that the investment house retained its second position for the third year in a row in the race for the Raging Bull Award management company rankings,” says De Klerk. Prudential achieved an overall rating of 3,708 PlexCrowns and was placed third in the overall domestic front and joint third in the overall foreign rand-denominated front. Prudential’s Equity Fund attained third spot in the Domestic Equity General subcategory and has maintained its top rating of five PlexCrowns for six consecutive quarters.

With an overall management company rating of 3,563 PlexCrowns Nedgroup Investments, which outsources the management of its funds, had the edge on Coronation (3,500 PlexCrowns) for third place. “Nedgroup Investments’ second place in domestic markets was boosted by a strong showing in domestic fixed interest where the Nedgroup Investment Bond Fund took top honours in the Domestic Fixed Interest Bond subcategory,” says De Klerk.

STANLIB Multi-Manager was the top-rated offshore management company at the end of December 2009 with a rating of 3,500 PlexCrowns (see Table 3). The company achieved above-average ratings in the Total Fixed Interest category, as well as average results in the Total Equity category.

According to De Klerk, ratings are done in accordance with guidelines set by the Association of Savings & Investment of South Africa (ASISA). The emphasis is on the longer term and subcategories are rated only if they have at least five funds of three years or older. Only funds with an official track record of at least three years qualify for a rating.

As at 31 December 2009, a total of 373 rand-denominated funds qualified for ratings compared with 359 funds at the end of September. Of these funds 71,6% maintained their ratings while 26,4% underwent minor rating changes and seven funds experienced major rating changes. A total of 156 FSB-approved offshore funds were rated compared with 158 at the end of September 2009. Of these, 73,2% retained their ratings, 26,1% experienced minor rating changes and one fund experienced a major rating change.

Table 1: Leading funds per unit trust category

Previous leaders in brackets and italics

Table 2: PlexCrown domestic CIS manager ranking – overall

Table 3: PlexCrown FSB-approved offshore CIS manager ranking – overall