Cornelian gets UK big cap value

The portfolio’s top holdings are the £1.5bn Fidelity Index UK Fund, at 22.6 per cent; the £270m Fidelity Index US Fund, at 15.4 per cent, and the Bloomberg Commodity Index, at 7 per cent.

The minimum investment is £1,000, and the ongoing charge is 1.2 per cent, according to FE Trustnet.

ADVISER SAYS....

Rob Morgan, pensions and investments analyst at Bath-based Charles Stanley, said: “The Cornelian fund has been a strong performer in the sector in recent years, despite being exceptionally diverse. A balanced portfolio of equities, bonds and collectives, it incorporates a decent slug of alternatives such as property, private equity and infrastructure funds.

“The UK equity portion is primarily individual equities chosen by the team. This helps keep charges down, and the ongoing charge is reasonable for the clean-priced units. Meanwhile, overseas equity and fixed-interest exposure is primarily through collectives, which are mostly active-managed rather than passive. The disadvantage of this is the team have to combine two skill sets; of individual equity management and fund selection, although so far they have done a good job on both counts.

“The Fidelity fund is designed as risk-graded, one-stop shop portfolios, and it sticks to underlying passive funds, both Fidelity and external, to keep costs low, and asset allocation is team-managed with the aim of adding value based on their economic research and quantitative models.

“With an admirably low OCF, it is likely to appeal to investors whose priority is minimising charges. However, for me the merits of combining a portfolio of passive funds with active allocation are debatable, and I note the fund has underperformed the sector since launch, albeit marginally, which would indicate that, thus far at least, asset allocation has not added value.”