Fairtree outperformed the major players in South Africa’s investment industry to win the South African Manager of the Year trophy at the annual Raging Bull Awards ceremony in Cape Town on Monday.
The event recognised outstanding performance to the end of 2023 by unit trust fund managers in selecting investments for their portfolios, considering consistency and aversion to risk.
The two runners-up were last year’s top domestic management company, PSG Asset Management, in second place and Boutique Collective Investments in third place.
Last year’s first runner-up, Ninety One, which won the management company award in 2021 and 2022, dropped out of the top three.
The Manager of the Year awards are based on the risk-adjusted performance of a manager’s suite of qualifying unit trust funds, as determined by the PlexCrown Fund Ratings system, over a five-year period.
The Raging Bull Award for Offshore Manager of the Year went to Orbis Investment Management, the offshore investment partner of Allan Gray, based in Bermuda, for its suite of offshore funds marketed to South Africans.
The Raging Bull Awards are hosted annually by Personal Finance in partnership with data providers ProfileData and PlexCrown Fund Ratings. The awards have been presented since 1997.
In addition to the two management company awards, eight Raging Bull trophies and 30 certificates were awarded to South African and offshore funds for straight performance over three years and risk-adjusted performance over five years to 31 December 2023.
The four Raging Bull Awards for straight performance over three years went to:
- Best South African Equity General Fund: Investec BCI Dynamic Equity Fund
- Best South African Interest-Bearing Fund: PSG Diversified Income Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Equity General Fund: PSG Global Equity Feeder Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Global Equity Fund: Contrarius Global Equity Fund
The winners of the Raging Bull Awards for risk-adjusted performance over five years were:
- Best South African Equity General Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Investec BCI Dynamic Equity Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Equity Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Aylett Balanced Prescient Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Flexible Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Salvo Prime Dynamic Flexible Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Global Asset Allocation Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Coronation Global Capital Plus Fund
Fairtree Asset Management was founded in 2006 by Andre Malan and Kobus Nel. Starting as a hedge fund management company, it introduced a range of unit trust funds in association with administrator Prescient.
Some of these funds have featured at the Raging Bull Awards since 2017, notably the Fairtree Equity Prescient Fund, which won the award for Best South African Equity Fund on a risk-adjusted Basis for four years in a row. The fund is now the fourth-largest domestic equity fund in South Africa, with more than R20 billion in assets under management, according to its fund fact sheet.
At this year’s awards ceremony, one Fairtree fund received a certificate, the Fairtree Global Equity Prescient Feeder Fund, for risk-adjusted performance.
Raging Bull certificates for fund performance
Straight performance
Certificates for straight performance over three years to the end of December 2023:
- Best South African Equity Resources Fund: Coronation Resources Fund
- Best South African Equity Mid- and Small-Cap Fund: Sanlam Investment Management Small Cap Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Flexible Fund: Flagship IP Flexible Value Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Low-Equity Fund: Merchant West SCI Stable P&G Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Medium-Equity Fund: GraySwan SCI Moderate Fund of Funds
- Best South African Multi-Asset High Equity Fund: PSG Balanced Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Income Fund: PSG Diversified Income Fund
- Best South African Interest-Bearing Short-Term Fund: Truffle SCI Income Plus Fund
- Best South African Interest-Bearing Variable-Term Fund: Saffron BCI Active Bond Fund
- Best South African Real Estate Fund: M&G Property Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Multi-Asset Flexible Fund: PSG Global Flexible Feeder Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Worldwide Multi-Asset Flexible Fund: Blue Quadrant Worldwide Flexible Prescient Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Europe Equity Fund: Osmosis Resource Efficient European Equities Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore United States Equity Fund: Dodge & Cox Worldwide US Stock Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Far East Equity Fund: Franklin India Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Global Fixed-Interest Bond Fund: Allan Gray Africa Bond Fund
- Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Global Real Estate Fund: Oasis Crescent Global Property Equity Fund
Risk-adjusted performance
Certificates for risk-adjusted performance over five years to the end of December 2023:
- Best South African Multi-Asset Low-Equity Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Amplify SCI Wealth Protector Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Medium-Equity Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Southern Charter BCI Balanced Fund of Funds
- Best South African Multi-Asset High Equity Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Aylett Balanced Prescient Fund
- Best South African Multi-Asset Income Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Thyme Wealth IP Multi-Asset Income Fund
- Best South African Interest-Bearing Short-Term Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Oakhaven Core Income FR Fund
- Best South African Interest-Bearing Variable-Term Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Saffron BCI Active Bond Fund
- Best South African Real Estate Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Harvard House BCI Property Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Equity General Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Fairtree Global Equity Prescient Feeder Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Multi-Asset Low-Equity Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Coronation Global Capital Plus [ZAR] Feeder Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Multi-Asset High Equity Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Allan Gray-Orbis Global Balanced Feeder Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Multi-Asset Flexible Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Global Marathon IP Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Global Real Estate Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Oasis Crescent International Property Equity Feeder Fund
- Best (SA-domiciled) Worldwide Multi-Asset Flexible Fund on a Risk-adjusted Basis: Blue Quadrant Worldwide Flexible Prescient Fund
