Van Eyk acts on ‘cheap’ growth call

By Michael Bailey

VanEyk Research has acted on its belief that growth stocks are cheap globally, replacing Wellington International Management with what it has called a “deeper growth” manager for its Blueprint multi-manager fund.

Wellington’s 25 per cent allocation within Blueprint’s $150 million International Shares Fund has been taken over by Walter Scott & Partners, a Scottish bottom-up manager that recently got its first Australian retail mandate through the Macquarie Professional Series.

Van Eyk recommended that mandate too, through its consulting relationship with Macquarie that is led by Mark Thomas.

The tie-up with Blueprint means Walter Scott will now also be available through Macquarie’s wrap products, as well as BT Wrap and others.

Apart from van Eyk’s view that growth stocks are undervalued, Wellington’s demise was also caused by perceived weaknesses in its stock selection capabilities, and the researcher’s view it was “becoming too complacent and overconfident in its investment abilities”.

Wellington was downgraded from AA to B last December by Suzanne Tavill’s research team at van Eyk, at the same time as Walter Scott was given an inaugural rating of A, the minimum required for inclusion on Blueprint.

Walter Scott, whose portfolio van Eyk said had “a high hurdle for stock eligibility, resulting in it holding stocks not widely held by others”, is named after the man who founded it in 1983, Dr Walter Scott.