Baillie Gifford has won the top prize at this year’s FTAdviser Investment 100 Club for the second year in a row after being named winner of the Large Investment Group category.
The judges’ decision to highlight Baillie Gifford stemmed from the firm’s continued excellent performance across its fund range and was heavily weighted by its “flexible approach” to pricing.
Other repeat winners were limited, with Man GLG being named Small to Medium-Sized Investment Group of the year and Legal & General Investment Management picking up the prize for Passive Investment Group. These replaced previous top dogs Liontrust and Fidelity, respectively.
The ceremony took place on Thursday October 11 at the Financial Times headquarters in London, with an array of awards across a range of asset classes. The 100 Club is a whole-of-market competition, as it pits open-ended and closed-ended funds together within categories, and highlights the best passive fund providers.
Some 85 funds are selected across 15 categories, along with 15 asset management groups to form the 100 Club. The calculation process is based on funds’ total returns across one and five years relative to the performance of a broadly relevant benchmark or sector.
Sweeping the board
Man GLG was the night’s most numerous winner, adding to the Small and Mid Investment Group award with the Man GLG Continental Euro Growth fund being named top in the European Equity category, and Henry Dixon’s Man GLG UK Income fund named winner of the UK Equity Income category.
The latter fund has been one of the sector’s top performers in the short and long term, and drew praise from the judges for its value and contrarian approach – and Mr Dixon’s ability to find the right stocks across the market capitalisation spectrum.
In the Absolute Return category, Old Mutual Global Equity Absolute Return (now Merian) was named the top fund among its peers. The fund has been run by an experienced and long-standing team, headed by Ian Heslop, Amadeo Alentorn and Mike Servent.
Elsewhere, the Schroder Asian Total Return IT was named winner in the Asia Pacific Equity category with judges rating its long-term performance and named the manager “one of the best in the space”.
In the Global Emerging Markets category, this year’s award went to the UBS GEM Equity fund, with the judges noting its ability to outperform markets and peers in both up and down markets.
The Global Equity award went to the Lindsell Train Investment Trust, with Nick Train’s vehicle being one of five investment trusts winning across the 15 categories.
Baillie Gifford picked up its only fund award in the Mixed Asset category with the Baillie Gifford Managed fund being chosen for its standout performance over the long and short term and competitive charging structure.
In the Mixed Asset Income category, Artemis Monthly Distribution was named winner for the second year in a row – making it the only repeat fund award from 2017.
