CAPE TOWN – MiPlan, a small “boutique” asset management company based in Newlands, Cape Town, has outperformed the major players in South Africa’s investment industry to win the coveted South African Manager of the Year trophy at the annual Raging Bull Awards gala dinner, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Tuesday, January 28.
The event recognises superior performance by unit trust fund managers in selecting investments for their portfolios, taking into account consistency and aversion to risk.
The manager of the year awards are based on the risk-adjusted performance of a manager’s suite of qualifying unit trust funds, as determined by the PlexCrown Fund Ratings system, over a five-year period, in this instance to the end of 2019.
The runners-up in the South African Manager of the Year race were Investec Asset Management in second place and Prescient in third place, each of which received a certificate.
Last year’s winner, Allan Gray, which has dominated the awards in recent years, slipped down to fourth position, while Alexander Forbes Investments was fifth.
The Raging Bull Award for Offshore Manager of the Year went, for the fifth year in a row, to Nedgroup Investments, for its suite of offshore funds domiciled in Ireland.
Martin Hesse, content editor of Personal Finance, which hosts the awards, said: “Heartiest congratulations to MiPlan, which, in a tough investment environment, achieved an excellent average of 4.278 PlexCrowns (the maximum score is five) across its qualifying funds, putting it just ahead of Investec Asset Management, which averaged 4.262 PlexCrowns. It’s good to see the better-known, established industry players being challenged by smaller, younger companies. The competition is beneficial for investors, keeping costs in check and preventing anyone from resting on their laurels.”
The other major awards at the event were fund-specific: four for straight performance over three years and four for risk-adjusted performance over five years, to the end of 2019.
The Raging Bull Awards for straight performance over three years were:
- Best South African Equity General Fund: Kagiso Equity Alpha Fund
- Best South African Interest-bearing Fund: Truffle SCI Income Plus Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Equity General Fund: BlueAlpha BCI Global Equity Fund
- Best (Financial Sector Conduct Authority-approved) Offshore Global Equity Fund: Fundsmith Equity Fund
The Raging Bull Awards for risk-adjusted performance over five years were:
- Best South African General Equity Fund: Fairtree Equity Prescient Fund
- Best South African Multi-asset Equity Fund: Kagiso Protector Fund
- Best South African Multi-asset Flexible Fund: Long Beach Flexible Prescient Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Global Asset Allocation Fund: Platinum Global Managed Fund
The event was sponsored this year by Investment Fund Africa and the JSE. ProfileData and its subsidiary, PlexCrown Fund Ratings, were the data providers.