St James’s Place has appointed a trio of boutique investment managers to help run its newly named Global Value fund.
The national wealth manager announced yesterday (July 9) it had opted to take a multi-manager approach to its Global Equity Income fund, hiring Pzena Investment Management, Sanders Capital and Artisan to run the mandate.
SJP will also rename the portfolio the Global Value fund.
Pzena will be responsible for 50 per cent of the fund’s management, while the other half will be split evenly between Sanders Capital and Artisan.
Tom Beal, chief investment officer, said: “The changes to our Global Value fund are to encourage greater diversification and access to a wider pool of investment talent, allowing clients to take a more flexible approach.
“Value investing is one of the most established and successful ways of investing in equities but has largely been out of favour for the past decade.”
The value style of investing focuses primarily on the share price and valuation of a company rather than the near-term earnings growth a company can be expected to achieve.
As value funds and shares typically perform better when inflation and interest rates are rising and economic growth is strong, it has been out of favour for more than a decade and the number of true value fund managers has decreased.
It has also suffered a number of high-profile manager blows, such as Neil Woodford and Mark Barnett.
But Mr Beal said SJP believed in having a “diverse range of approaches”, adding that the changes gave clients access to “high calibre global equity managers” regardless of investment style.
According to the wealth manager, Pzena and Sanders Capital were chosen after “intense research and scrutiny” by the in-house investment team.
Pzena provides a structured investment process which focuses on unearthing deeply undervalued companies, while Sanders Capital takes a “broad view” approach to value investing, believing companies with relatively robust valuations can still be undervalued relative to their long-term potential.
Mr Beal said Artisan already had a proven track record over many years of managing the Global Manager fund for SJP.
The fund will be exclusively available to UK retail investors and cannot be accessed outside of SJP.
Mr Beal added: “We are committed to helping clients achieve financial wellbeing in a world worth living in. Our focus remains on designing innovative investment strategies that provide clients with access to a broad range of funds, managed by globally leading investment managers.
“This approach helps our partners to design investment solutions that align with their clients’ long-term goals.”
imogen.tew@ft.com
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