InTechandBT Financial Group’s multi-manager alliance has been given an encouraging first ever rating byInvestorWeb Researchdespite a below median performance over the past three years, due to the research house’s high regard for the former’s investment team.
InvestorWeb gave the alliance – spawned back in March 2002 and involving BT setting strategic asset allocation parameters for each multi-manager fund while InTech selects the underlying managers behind each fund – a ‘Buy’ rating.
“[We] consider that all aspects of the InTech process – including strategic asset allocation, manager selection and termination, and portfolio construction – to be well understood and articulated by the team,” the subsidiary of IWL says in a statement.
However it was also conscious that InTech’s four key team members – Ron Liling, Fraser Murray, Danny Suchowiecki and Andrew Korbel – may develop uniform views on managers given the length of time the team has been together.
“Given that they have been working closely together for over 5 years, their views may have become more aligned. Without a formal structure to the manager ratings process, there is a risk that the unanimity of view may occasionally lead to less than optimal recommendations,” InvestorWeb warns.
The research house is also confident that “BT has no influence on the ratings process and that InTech is an independent entity.”
InvestorWeb says that the BT InTech product aims to deliver consistent, relatively low risk second quartile performance – first quartile over the longer term. However its performance was sub-median across all multi-sector products for the three years to December 2003.
InvestorWeb nonetheless expect, given the InTech team and process, performance to improve over time and achieve above median performance.
