STANLIB's fixed interest team wins awards and billions in client support

WINNING industry recognition and winning marketplace support go hand in hand at STANLIB.

The country's biggest unit trust company is also the recipient of big inflows from institutional investors and high net worth individuals looking for optimum returns in the fixed interest arena scene of unprecedented award-winning success by STANLIB asset managers.

The company's money market, income and bond funds are now at the R100 billion-mark.

Simultaneously, STANLIB's fixed interest team headed by Henk Viljoen is the recipient of an unparalleled spate of industry awards.

Among investment industry professionals, the most sought-after accolades are the annual Raging Bull and Standard & Poors awards.

For the 2005 calendar year, Viljoens team won three of the four Raging Bull awards in the fixed interest category while taking five out of six accolades in the equivalent categories at the Standard & Poors event.

The successes were repeated in 2006.

The recent investment industry awards 'season' ended with STANLIB fixed interest products again in the limelight. They took all four available Raging Bull awards while picking up five out of six awards in this segment of the Standard & Poors programme. In one category, they were runners-up missing out on a clean sweep by a whisker.

"Awards are welcome," says Henk Viljoen, "but consistent returns and the support of astute clients in a challenging market is the true test."

'Macro' and 'micro' factors contribute to the unique run of success. The fixed interest franchise has the support of considerable resources AS a major player in the investment industry, but the unit remains tight-knit and harnesses the adrenaline and high conviction levels of a small team.

"Success is a function of people and process," notes Viljoen.

"We benefit from a solid, proven process that enables us to develop a strategy to determine the direction of the market and identify distinct components of value - duration, credit and curve plays.

"Technically, the challenge is to take the appropriate long or short positions at various stages of the market, supported by macro fundamentals and individual insight into specific opportunities as they occur. But perhaps the key factor is the dynamicS within the team."

Viljoen's fixed-interest TEAM HAS been together since STANLIB's inception five years ago.

"Too many cooks spoil the broth," he explains. "We don't have to canvass a welter of divergent views. Ours is a small team thats totally dedicated to the fixed interest discipline. It's cohesive, stable, but passionate.

"Passion translates into performance."