Managed by Stewart Cowley, the fund is currently in sixth place in the Investment Management Association mixed investment 40 to 85 per cent share sector.
Mr Cowley has mainly looked to the UK and US, with exposure worth 42.66 and 17.55 per cent respectively, to fulfil the fund’s aim of providing long term capital growth through active management of a diversified portfolio.
Although it is fettered, the fund is not restrained in its choice of asset classes, giving more precedence to cash (at 49.97 per cent) than equities (40.09 per cent) in the portfolio.
While only 8.8 per cent of the fund is invested in bonds, this asset class is punching above its weight – as seen in the fund’s top holding, the Old Mutual Global Strategic Bond fund.
The rest of the top 10 is a wide range of income and equity funds investing in the UK, US and Asia Pacific.
The fund’s total expense ratio is 1.66 per cent while its annual management charge is 0.75 per cent. The initial investment allowed is at least £1,000, while additional investments are set at a minimum level of £500. Investors can also put a minimum of £50 a month into the fund, which is available through an Isa.
Meanwhile, the Marlborough Balanced fund has yet to make its mark on the same sector, managing only 110th place. The £103.36m fund has fallen short of the sector average return of 16.51 per cent.
The fund’s TER, 2.84 per cent, is also significantly above the average seen among its peers, which could be an unhelpful drag on returns.
The Marlborough fund also has more invested in the UK, at 57.03 per cent, with relatively low exposure to the US at 6.88 per cent. The eurozone, however, looms large at 11.98 per cent. Equities are the dominant asset class, at 67.44 per cent, in the fund, far ahead of bonds at 9.98 per cent. The objective of the fund is to provide medium to long-term capital growth on a medium-risk basis.
The AMC is 0.75 per cent, while the initial investment level is set at a minimum of £1,000. The fund also allows additional and monthly investments of at least £500 and £50 respectively. In addition, it can be accessed through an Isa.
ADVISER SAYS…
Gavin Haynes, managing director of Bristol-based Whitechurch Securities, said: “The Marlborough fund’s short and long-term performance has been poor versus the peer group, and you would expect that using in-house funds would reduce the overall fund. With competition fierce in multi-manager, it is hard to find a reason to buy this.
“The Old Mutual fund has proven to be a solid, balanced offering. Although I prefer unfettered multi-manager proposals, Mr Cowley does have a good choice of offerings in both the equity and bond universe.”
| Old Mutual Managed |
| 1. Old Mutual Global Strategic Bond - 11.69% |
| 2. Old Mutual Global Equity Absolute Return - 7.97% |
| 3. UK government bonds - 7.51% |
| 4. Old Mutual Asia Pacific - 7.48% |
| 5. Old Mutual Monthly Income Bond - 6.89% |
| Marborough Balanced |
| 1. Marlborough Multi Cap Income - 12.24% |
| 2. Marlborough UK Multi-Cap Growth - 11.31% |
| 3. Ardevora UK Income - 11.18% |
| 4. Marlborough Int North American - 9.72% |
| 5. Marlborough Bond Income - 6.27% |