SIM top choice ranks top-in-class
Patrice Rassou, Head of Equities at Sanlam Investments.
Consistency, high conviction and true skill pay off.
According to the Alexander Forbes Equity Manager Watch, the Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) Top Choice Equity Fund again ranked first in its category in the domestic equity (unconstrained) category for the five-year period ending August 2017 (source: Alexander Forbes Equity Manager Watch, August 2017).
It was also ranked within the top 25% of funds for one-, three-, five-, seven- and ten-year periods to 31 July 2017 by Morningstar, relative to its peers and on a risk-adjusted basis. This speaks to the consistency of its outperformance, and its ability to demonstrate true skill through high conviction bets and a concentrated portfolio of the best-performing stocks.
Said Head of Equities Patrice Rassou, “We rely on a fundamental investment process where our team of experienced analysts focus each day on uncovering gems within the listed universe on the JSE.”
Top Choice has shown extreme resilience during volatile cycles for over a decade; navigating both the lows of the global financial crisis and the euphoria of quantitative easing (source: Morningstar, December 2016). This is testimony to a sound pragmatic value investing philosophy as well as the ability of a diverse team of investment professionals to unearth great stocks even when times look bleak.
The SIM Top Choice equity capability is a concentrated portfolio of insights of both generalists and sector specialists within SIM, expressed in one fund. The 20-stock portfolio is non benchmark-cognisant and counter-cyclical, in that it maintains exposure to some stocks that are occasionally out of favour, capitalising on their value when markets turn. It is an aggressive stock-picking capability made up of the most high-conviction bets of the equity portfolio managers at SIM. The objective of a concentrated fund such as this one is to ensure that the superior stock picking skills of our truly skilled portfolio managers come to the fore, providing investors with more opportunity to outperform the stock market over the long term.
