Melville Douglas is top offshore manager

As global equity markets continued their decline in the first quarter of 2009, money-market and income funds again topped the charts of offshore fund returns in the first quarter of the year.

According to Ryk de Klerk, director of PlexCrown Fund Ratings, offshore money-market funds also topped the charts over one, three and five years.

Unlike the last quarter of 2008 when the rand depreciated by more than 13%, cushioning the significant sell-off in global equities and boosting offshore fixed-interest-related fund returns, the rand ended the quarter marginally weaker against the US dollar (-0,5%).

The PlexCrown Fund Ratings are used as the basis for the prestigious annual Raging Bull Awards for the unit trust industry. The PlexCrown Survey, which measures both rand-denominated and Financial Services Board registered offshore funds, enables one to compare individual funds in their subcategories on a risk-adjusted return basis, rate the management companies on an overall basis and see at a glance where their specific competencies lie.

According to the PlexCrown Survey, Melville Douglas took the honours as the leading offshore management company for the first quarter with an overall rating of 4.500 PlexCrowns. The company’s overall rating was underscored by sharing the top spot in Total Fixed Interest with TriAlpha and a strong joint fifth position in Total Equity.

The investment manager was also the most proficient offshore manager in Equity and Fixed Interest combined, scoring 4.000 PlexCrowns in Equity and 5.000 in Fixed Interest.

Melville Douglas, a subsidiary of Standard Bank Global Private Bank, manages mainly discretionary segregated investment portfolios for high net worth individuals. Its fixed-interest portfolios are managed by its Johannesburg-based investment team, while its offshore equity mandates are outsourced to several selected top international managers. The group manages approximately R10 billion in domestic assets and a further R2,5 billion in offshore assets.

Ashburton was placed second with an overall rating of 3.550 PlexCrowns. Ashburton excelled by taking top spots in US Equity, European Equity and Global Asset Allocation.

TriAlpha followed closely in third position with an overall rating of 3.500 PlexCrowns, strongly supported by achieving the top spot in Global Fixed Interest Bond.

A total of 161 funds were rated in the survey at the end of March, compared with 156 at 31 December 2008. Of these, 60,3% retained their ratings, 32,7% experienced minor rating changes and seven experienced major rating changes.

The Ashburton Global Dollar Managed Income Fund’s rating was upped from 2 to 4 PlexCrowns, while the Ashburton Global Sterling Managed Income Fund, Aviva Funds European Equity Fund, Franklin US Small-Mid Cap Growth Fund and STANLIB Offshore Japan Fund were upgraded from 1 to 3 PlexCrowns.

The Aviva INVESCO UK Equity Fund’s rating was reduced from 3 PlexCrowns to 1 and that of Sarasin CI Income Portfolio from 4 to 2 PlexCrowns.

According to De Klerk, ratings are done in line with guidelines set by the Association for Savings and Investment 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 rating.