SWIP MultiManager UK Equity Growth
One of eight multi-manager offerings from SWIP, the £183.7m UK Equity Growth fund is a favourite among FE Trustnet users. This manager of managers fund, where the lead manager selects other managers to pick stocks for them, has returned 45.2 per cent over three years. The fund is outsourced to Russell Investments.
It has made losses of 4.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent over one and five years respectively, though.
The fund aims to beat the FTSE All Share, but has only managed that over a three-year period. The managers of the fund are FOUR Capital, which looks at intrinsic valuations; Henderson, which focuses on contrarian growth; and Investec, which concentrates on quantitative investments.
The fund has an FE Risk Score of 113 and a total expense ratio (TER) of 1.82 per cent.
Most-bought multi-manager funds in FE Trustnet portfolios, October 2011
| Fund |
Amount invested in TN users' portfolios (£) |
| SWIP MultiManager UK Equity Growth |
897,400 |
| Santander International Equity Portfolio |
675,413 |
| Troy Spectrum |
564,843 |
| Santander Bond Portfolio |
563,766 |
| Jupiter Merlin Income Portfolio |
424,630 |
Source: FE Trustnet
Santander International Equity Portfolio
This £156.9m fund aims to give investors growth mostly from the UK and European regions. Its top-10 holdings include other multi-manager vehicles, other Santander funds and M&G American. The top-10 stocks make up nearly 90 per cent of the portfolio.
While the fund has managed a double-digit positive return since its launch in December 2008, it has lagged its IMA Active Managed sector. It has also lost more in the past 12 months than the average fund in the sector; 3.4 per cent, compared with 5.9 per cent. The fund has an FE Risk Score of 86 and a TER of 1.95 per cent.
Troy Spectrum
This FE Five Crown-rated fund is a sector-leader, returning 32 per cent since its launch in March 2008, compared with just 0.82 per cent from the average fund in the IMA Active Managed sector. With an FE Risk Score of 38, the returns come with little volatility.
One of four funds offered by Troy Asset Management, the vehicle’s top-10 holdings include industry favourite BlackRock Gold & General, CF Ruffer’s European fund, and gold bullion securities.
The Troy team charges a TER of 1.47 per cent for the fund.
Santander Bond Portfolio
This is the only fixed income fund among our readers' top-five multi-managers. The fund is unusual as it only has eight holdings and a low FE Risk Score of 22.
The funds it invests in include corporate bond vehicles, money market instruments, strategic and government bond funds.
Since its launch in 2008 the fund has returned 27.9 per cent, while the average vehicle in its IMA Sterling Strategic Bond sector returned 36.21 per cent. It held up better in the recent market volatility, though, keeping returns in the black, while the average fund in the sector went up to 2.5 per cent into the red.
The fund’s TER is the lowest of the top multi-managers, at 1.18 per cent.
Jupiter Merlin Income
This top-rated fund is run by a trio of FE Alpha Managers; John Chatfeild-Roberts, Peter Lawery and Algy Smith-Maxwell. The £2.4bn vehicle, which has an FE Risk Score of 43 and Five Crowns, includes physical gold ETFs, emerging market bond funds and high income vehicles among its top-10 holdings.