Investec fund upgraded

Morningstar analyst Chetan Modi said that, despite Mr Rodrigs' relative inexperience, he had impressed since taking over the fund from Dan Hanbury in July 2006.

Mr Modi said: "Philip Rodrigs has amassed a strong track record. Between July 1 2006 and January 31 2010, he beat his typical category peer by 5.5 percentage points a year.

"Despite this being his first shot at portfolio management, he has done a good job of guiding the fund through the choppy markets of 2007 and 2008, while managing to stay ahead of the pack in 2009."

Mr Modi added that Morningstar did hold some concerns over the fact Mr Rodrigs worked alone and said he would like to see some dedicated research support if the fund continued to grow at its current pace.

That said, he acknowledged Mr Rodrigs' strong performed through varying market conditions and said he was confident the manager would serve investors well over the long term.

Meanwhile, Insight Investment's Diversified Dynamic Return fund, and Morgan Stanley's offshore Euro Bond vehicle have for the first time been given Standard ratings.

Morningstar analyst Nitya Pandalai Nayar said that although investors in the Insight fund, managed by Mike Pinggera, have had to deal with some instability over the past two years, Morningstar believed things had now settled down.

He said: "The parent company has been through two buyouts, and the managers are relatively new, having only taken over in late 2008, early 2009.

"Although we think things have settled down, we would like to see continued stability and more of what the managers can do."

Commenting on the Morgan Stanley fund, run by Michael Kushma, Mr Nayar added clients benefited from a strong team headed by investors with an average on 19 years' experience.

"The process here is sound, but given the credit-quality constraints, we think the TER is high – expenses are very important in bond funds," Mr Nayar said.

"Additionally, we have concerns about the parent firm Morgan Stanley."