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The £2.8m Swip Multi-Manager Select Boutiques fund has used a special capital protection technique to outperform the downturn, according to the asset manager's fund of funds team.

Mark Harries and Simon Wood, managers of the UK-domiciled global equity vehicle, invest in portfolios which on average participate 108 per cent in upward markets but only 73 per cent in downward markets.

Mr Harries said he and Mr Wood were seeking outperformers with a proven absolute return mindset, although Select Boutiques is not an absolute return fund. "We don't look to churn managers," he said.

Swip launched the fund on 20 December. From the beginning of 2008 to 18 August, it gained 9.5 per cent, while the Active Managed sector declined 10.9 per cent.

Mr Harries and Mr Wood use managers with long track records to establish a representative sample for their performance.

Favoured performers have included Robin Geffen on the £753.4m Neptune Global Equity fund, who has over 200 per cent upside participation, roughly 75 per cent downside participation and a track record dating back to December 2001.

Crispin Odey on the £178.7m CF Odey Opus fund has provided a more cautious example. Mr Odey has a history going back to August 2001 and has since captured between 75-100 per cent of index upside but well under 50 per cent of index downside.

A more neutral manager is Angus Tulloch on the £780.4m First State Asia Pacific Leaders fund, which takes close to 100 per cent of the upside and close to 100 per cent of the downside of the index.

In the sample given, the fund had the joint longest track record, dating from the end of 2007. The shortest history, since November 2002, was for the BDT Asian Focus fund.

Mr Harries and Mr Wood have since sold their holdings in the BDT Asian Focus and the £193.7m Jupiter Undervalued Assets funds and bought into the £195.6m JOHCM UK Opportunities fund.

Currently, they have 10 holdings, with 9 per cent of the portfolio in cash. UK equities constitute 43.2 per cent of the fund, 29.2 per cent is in global equities, 6.9 per cent is in the US, 6 per cent is in continental Europe and 5.7 per cent is in Asia Pacific.

Their high conviction approach currently extends to the boutiques they select. Two of the 10 holdings are in funds run by GAM, while two are in funds run by Odey.

Their interpretation of what constitutes a boutique is flexible, however, extending to larger houses like Jupiter Unit Trust Managers and Invesco Perpetual.