Perpetual global praised despite early performance hurdles

All the trouble Perpetual Investments went to set up its Dublin-based international funds management operation looks to be paying off, with three Australian research houses awarding a strong rating to the fledgling group.

Morningstar, InvestorWeb and Zenith have all given the Perpetual International Shares Fund the thumbs up, while Standard & Poor’s and Navigator have both detracted a ‘hold’ rating.

Perpetual acquired the core of Bank of Ireland Asset Management’s (BIAM) esteemed investment management team to set up the Dublin operation from scratch, a move that also meant dumping its previous international funds management partner, Fidelity.

Morningstar head of research Justin Walsh said it was mainly the strength of the group’s team that prompted its ‘recommended’ rating. This endorsement comes despite Walsh taking into account that in the last four or five months the fund has performed below benchmark.

“It’s not going too hot to date but it’s only been four months — you’re not going to make a decision based on that. Also, they do have a bit of a value tilt and they don’t have a lot in energy and, of course, energy is doing well at the moment,” Walsh said.

“The team, including Des Sullivan and John Nolan, is very experienced in markets. They have been managing money this way for a long period of time and they’ve been building a track record.”