Aberdeen upgraded in equities review

Aberdeen Asset Management has emerged as a winner in the latest Lonsec Global Equity Sector Review, with the company’s Wholesale International Equity Fund being upgraded to become one of just nine funds to gain the coveted ‘highly recommended’ rating.

The other funds to gain the rating were Goldman Sachs JB Were International Fund, the MFS Global Equity Trust, the T Rowe Price Global Equity Fund, the Walter Scott Global Equity Fund, the Zurich Investments Global Thematic Share Fund, the IFP Global Franchise Fund, the Templeton Global Equities Fund and the Arrowstreet Global Equity Fund.

Commenting on the sector, the Lonsec analysis said that last year managers had mirrored the companies they invested in and had sought to control costs, but this was beginning to change.

It said that in response to the changing global growth dynamics, managers had been flagging their intention to beef up their Asian coverage either through relocations from European or US offices or new regional appointments.

“This will be an interesting dynamic to watch, particularly as investment banks are also seeking to increase their presence in emerging markets, such as the Asia region, to capture their share of the advisory and transaction fees on offer and compete with buy-side firms for talent,” the Lonsec analysis said.

The analysis also pointed to the different attitudes of mangers depending upon their geographic locations, with US managers last year tending to be more positive than their counterparts in London and Edinburgh.

“This year, however, most managers tended to be mildly positive on the outlook for global markets,” the analysis said.

However, it said that notwithstanding this more positive outlook, “the Edinburgh-based Scots again stood out for their generally cautious tone”.

“UK-based managers observed that the local population was relatively positive and appeared to be largely deaf to the impending fiscal austerity that loomed in the UK over the near term,” the analysis said.

It said managers were mostly constructive on the ‘emerging Asia’ region, believing that these markets as a whole were exhibiting favourable demographics and governments had learned valuable lessons from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.