Benchmark agnostic philosophy delivers for Walsh and Co EMF
Taking a benchmark agnostic approach has seen Walsh and Company Asset Management's Emerging Markets Masters Fund (EMF) finish 2015 as the sector's top performing fund for the second successive year.
Morningstar data revealed the fund outperformed similar funds throughout 2015, beating the MSCI Emerging Markets Index by 8.6 per cent.
Portfolio manager, James Brown, attributed the success to the fund's benchmark agnostic investment philosophy and process, which included taking meaningful positions in China A-Shares and India.
"A vast majority of the managers we invest with are not available to Australian retail investors and that can be a powerful advantage for our investors," he said.
"We are always willing to back our research-driven investment process, including having a strong bias towards the consumer sectors, exposure to domestic China, and a large position in India.
"While we are pleased with the outcome of our asset allocation decisions in 2015, it is also very positive to see that manager selection also contributed meaningfully in the majority of markets that we invest in."
The EMF delivered net tangible asset total returns of 33.9 per cent (9.4 per cent per annum) since its launch in October 2012, compared with total returns of 20.2 per cent (5.8 per cent per annum) for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
"This is an excellent result for our investors and another outstanding 12 months for the fund." says Mr Brown.
"The fund has been positioned to leverage the growth of the emerging markets consumer since launch, and it expressed this view through a meaningful exposure to frontier markets and significant weightings to consumer sectors. We believe this approach has really differentiated us from most of our peers."
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