Reimagined culture reaps rewards
A mantra of positive culture, and focusing on picking the best stocks saw global real estate securities' manager Presima Global Property Securities Concentrated Fund shine brightly in the emerging manager category.
The firm's philosophy is about how it is seen in listed commercial real estate, and to aim for investment characteristics similar to direct or private commercial real estate over the long-term, chief executive, Peter Zabierek, said.
"As listed vehicles, there will be many times in a market cycle where the stocks will trade more expensively or more cheaply than what we feel the long-term value should be," he said.
"By actively trading those listed stocks, we believe we can add some alpha over and above a long-term commercial real estate return for investors."
With NAB's support, the firm outperformed by 380 basis points in 2014 and by around 160 basis points thus far in 2015.
"It's very much a place where we try not to take ourselves too seriously," Zabierek said.
William Blair's history of investing in small and medium sized and large cap companies for its high growth opportunities saw it qualify as a finalist, according to portfolio manager, Ken McAtamney.
The firm has been investing in global emerging markets since the early 1990s and its global leaders' strategy is the most selective out of all strategies.
"We can literally invest anywhere in the world where we find these companies with differentiated and sustainable operating metrics," McAtamney said.
With a global small cap universe of more than 7000 stocks, Copper Rock Capital Partners' Australian partner, Spire, banked on its principle of being bottom-up stock pickers to succeed as a finalist in the category.
Copper Rock chief investment officer, Stephen Dexter, believes that because global small cap is poorly researched, it offers the firm the ability to find hidden jewels among unrecognised companies.
Copper Rock has delivered six per cent above the MSCI World Smalls index every year over the last five years since the inception of the global small cap fund.
AUTHOR
Malavika Santhebennur
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