New asset management group, Crux, has unveiled its first fund with the import of a former Henderson fund. The FP Crux European Special Situations fund is managed by former Henderson star manager Richard Pease, with James Milne as assistant fund manager.
Mr Pease, who had a clause in his contract at Henderson to allow him to take the fund with him, has been managing the fund since October 2009. This Chart shows his average performance from October 2009 to the end of June versus the IA Europe excluding UK sector average fund.
This fund invests a minimum of 70 per cent in equity securities of European (excluding UK) companies in special situations – where it is believed the company is considered undervalued.
The fund currently invests predominantly in eurozone countries, with its highest allocation to Germany (16.8 per cent) and France (14.6 per cent). Its top holdings are diversified, from Nordea Bank to Brenntag, a German chemical distribution company. The fund’s size currently sits at £988.1m, but it suffered some outflows at the time of the announcement of Mr Pease’s departure in October last year, when the fund sat at £1.2bn.
Entry into the A class fund is set at 5 per cent, and its risk and reward profile is set at six (out of seven) due to the type of companies the fund invests in, as well as current exchange rate fluctuations.
www.cruxam.com
Comment:
Although this fund is not brand new, it is still necessary to look at it as if it is starting from fresh.
The fund manager is not the only element for running a fund, it takes hard work from analysts and a whole team of people behind the scenes.
Moving from a company such as Henderson to a small company of fewer than 15 people will be a culture shock. The fund mainly invests in Europe excluding the UK, but has allocated to countries that have not been as badly harmed by the eurozone crisis in recent years. Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland make up just a few of the fund’s top 10 countries.
Mr Pease’s track record is strong, proved by the Chart below using FE data versus the average fund in the Europe excluding UK sector, his average fund performance has largely outperformed over the past six years, since launching the original fund.