Finalists jostle for top positions

The finalists for the Money Management/ Assirt Fund Manager of the Year award have been decided. Jason Spits looks at who will contend for top honours after a turbulent year in the markets.

The field of finalists for this year's Money Management/Assirt Fund Manager of the Year could not be wider.

A roller coaster year in the markets has had an affect on the performance of many fund managers, particularly in the equities asset classes.

At the same time it has allowed other asset classes to shine with fund managers showing their hand in this part of the market.

And it has also brought a number of new names into the running for this year's award while retaining the presence of some recent star performers.

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Assirt associate director Anthony Serhan says while this year's finalists have some familiar names the level of managers is diverse.

Among the names appearing in the list is two time overall award winner Colonial First State which has a rich history at the awards bagging the top prize in 1998 and 1999.

In doing so it became only the second fund manager to do so with BT first accomplishing that feat in 1992 and 1993 when it shared the award with FAI Life.

Colonial also walked away with awards in a number of categories in 1998as well andthis time round are vying for top place in the multi-sector and property securities asset classes.

Another manager with a number of bets on is Credit Suisse Asset Management who are also a finalist in the multi-sector class as well as international equities and Australian fixed interest.

In this class they are up against IOOF and UBS Asset Management who are also named in the Australian equities class.

Perpetual is the only other manager named more than once in the list of finalists, with a place in the international equities classes and mortgage funds. It was also named in later for the 1999 awards.

Of the other finalists JB Were was also present in 1999, appearing in the same category then as they do this year, as does Challenger, Platinum and Colonial First State, in the mortgage funds, international equities and property securities classes respectively.

Yet the major difference between the finalists for this years awards and those of last year is that none of the banks are represented and neither are the largest players in the industry.

"The presence of small to medium size players indicates in some cases a more specialised approach. These managers did not have a wide product offering and were more focussed on those products they did offer," Serhan says.

"It was a difficult year and some new players have stepped up in that time and we found that many of these did not have a strong style bias. Rather they had strong stock selection and growth or value didn't break them."

He also says the absence of some of the industry's well known names is due to the market difficulties which plagued managers across the world.

In particular he says the performance of the last 12 months was poor enough to push some managers off the radar as this also affected their performance figures over a three year period.

The use of three year data is just one component of the three part process and looks at risk adjusted data from over three years. The data for this year's award was calculated for the one and three year periods concluding at the end of February this year.

According to Serhan the award has continued to evolve, with this the second year the award has concentrated on asset classes instead of product types.

However he says this year Assirt added a new dimension to the selection criteria, using its' ratings screen for the first time.

"This is the first time we have incorporated forward looking research and feel that in determining winners this has been a big step forward," Serhan says.

"However it is an annual award and it makes sense that annual performance is measured as well along with the three year figures and the ratings of the funds."

Serhan says Assirt makes use of the three components so that the results are not just about the best performers, but those managers with consistent value and a solid, positive combination of qualitative and quantative aspects.

One element of this is calculating scores based on products and their features since Serhan says awards should not be given to good managers who may have bad products.

However Serhan says this is not a recommended list of managers and cautions those who look at the finalists to remember that they reached this list through solid results. The overall winners will not be defined by star ratings or performance.

"In putting together this data, Assirt aims, with Money Management, to identify managers across a range of classes which were the best in their field over the medium term," Serhan says.

"Some of the winners will not be the stand out performers in their classes because all three components will count towards placings."

2001 Money Management/Assirt Fund Manager of the Year Finalists.

Australian Equities

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers

UBS Asset Management (Australia)

J.B. Were

Multi-sector

Colonial First State

Mercantile Mutual

Credit Suisse Asset Management Aust

Mortgage Funds

Sandhurst Trustees Ltd

Challenger Managed Investments Ltd

Perpetual Investments

International Equities

Platinum Asset Management

Perpetual Investments

Credit Suisse Asset Management

Property Securities

Colonial First State

Salomon Smith Barney Asset Management

Rothschild Australia Asset Management

Australian Fixed Interest

Credit Suisse Asset Management

UBS Asset Management (Australia)

IOOF