There are only five new entrants across the three group categories in the 100 Club this year, as many have held onto their membership for several years and, in some cases, won a group award previously.
Will a returning investment group win in 2016 or will a new member claim the award?
BlackRock and Schroders are the only new entrants in the Large Investment Group in 2016, as JPMorgan Asset Management, Axa Investment Managers and Fidelity International retain their membership in this elite list of outperforming funds and fund groups.
Last year’s Large Investment Group winner, Baillie Gifford, has fallen out of the 100 Club group category altogether, so who will take the crown in 2016?
It is a particularly good year for both BlackRock and Fidelity International, which are members of both the Large and Passive Investment Group categories. This is the first time BlackRock has made it into the Large Investment Group but with only two member funds in this year’s club, the question is whether it will be able to win in either category.
The asset manager is up against JPMorgan Asset Management, which has been a member every year since 2013 and is one of only five groups with four member funds this year. The others are Schroders, Jupiter Asset Management, Fidelity International and Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI).
There are only two new entrants this year in the Small to Mid Investment Group, too, with Lindsell Train and Troy Asset Management becoming members of this category once more. Lindsell Train was last a member in 2013 and this year boasts three member funds in the club. Troy Asset Management was a member of this category when the Investment Adviser 100 Club launched in 2012.
Jupiter, OMGI and Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) all return following their inclusion in 2015. The latter two are in the list for the third consecutive year, so will RLAM come out on top again this year having won in 2014? Or will OMGI and Jupiter end up fighting it out with four funds each in the 2016 Club?
Henderson Global Investors, which won the Small to Mid Investment Group last year, has failed to secure its place in the 100 Club this year, although the asset manager does appear in other categories as it has two member funds.
In the Passive Group category BlackRock, Fidelity, iShares, and 2015 award winner Vanguard all remain members of the 100 Club. Long-running member Legal & General has not made it in this year though, having been in the club for the past three years. Instead, passive provider SPDR makes it into this category for the first time.
Ellie Duncan is deputy features editor at Investment Adviser
