The coming together of two of European asset management’s largest groups would result in a veritable colossus.
Their combined £660 billion ($811 billion) in assets would move them into the big leagues and put them just outside the world’s top 20 in assets under management.
Across both groups there are a total of 128 fund managers tracked by Citywire, active in 91 investment sectors. The combined experience of those managers is just shy of a thousand years (980 years, 10 months).
The talent pool
Looking at their Citywire Ratings it is actually Aberdeen, who in spite of their troubles, are bringing the largest breadth and depth to marriage. Not only in terms of pure ratings, but also in the variety of sectors in which they are active and successful.
Citywire Fund Manager Ratings
With a combined total of 22 ratings it would place them 27th globally for three year risk-adjusted returns until the end of January this year.Citywire Fund Manager Ratings look at the individual risk-adjusted returns of every manager tracked globally over the past three years and are updated monthly.
The highest rated fund managers are all from Aberdeen, with the top manager AAA-rated Robert Penaloza. However, Penaloza only runs retail money in Australia. Making him niche and inaccessible to most.
| Manager | Rating | Group | Citywire Sector | Contributing Funds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Penaloza | AAA | Aberdeen | Equities - Australia | Aberdeen Australian Equities |
| Equities - Australia Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen Australian Small Companies | |||
| Equities - Australia | Aberdeen Ex-20 Australian Equities | |||
| Joseph McFadden | AA | Aberdeen | Equities - US Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen US Small Cap Equity Fund |
| Adrian Lim | AA | Aberdeen | Equities - Asia Pacific Excluding Japan | Aberdeen Asia-Pacific (Ex-Japan) Equity Fund |
| David Cumming | A | SLI | Equities - UK (All Companies) | Standard Life Inv UK Equity Recovery |
| Douglas Burtnick | A | Aberdeen | Equities - US | Aberdeen US Multi-Cap Equity Fund |
| Equities - US Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen US Small Cap Equity Fund | |||
| Jason Kotik | A | Aberdeen | Equities - US | Aberdeen US Multi-Cap Equity Fund |
| Equities - US Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen US Small Cap Equity Fund | |||
| Ralph Bassett | A | Aberdeen | Equities - US | Aberdeen American Opportunities |
| Equities - US | Aberdeen Global - North American Equity | |||
| Equities - US Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen Global - North American SmCos | |||
| Equities - US | Aberdeen North American Equity | |||
| Equities - US | Aberdeen US Multi-Cap Equity Fund | |||
| Equities - US Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen US Small Cap Equity Fund | |||
| Samantha Lamb | A | SLI | Bonds - Emerging Markets Global Corporates | SLI Glo SICAV Emerging Market Corporate Bd |
| Wolfgang Kuhn | + | Aberdeen | Bonds - Euro Corporates | Aberdeen Global II - Euro Corporate Bond |
| Fiona Gillespie | + | Aberdeen | Mixed Assets - Aggressive GBP | Aberdeen Multi-Asset |
| Lyndon Gill | + | Aberdeen | Equities - UK Equity Income | SW Multi-Manager UK Equity Income |
| Chern-Yeh Kwok | + | Aberdeen | Equities - Japan | Aberdeen Global - Japanese Equity |
| Equities - Japanese Small & Medium Companies | Aberdeen Global - Japanese Smaller Comp | |||
| Harry Nimmo | + | SLI | Equities - UK Smaller Companies | Standard Life Inv UK Smaller Companies |
| Kieran Curtis | + | SLI | Bonds - Emerging Markets Global Local Currency | SLI Glo SICAV EM Local Curr Debt |
| Bonds - Emerging Markets Global Corporates | SLI Glo SICAV Emerging Market Corporate Bd | |||
| Matthew Davies | + | Aberdeen | Mixed Assets - Flexible GBP | Aberdeen Capital |
| Michael Turner | + | Aberdeen | Mixed Assets - Balanced GBP | Aberdeen Diversified Income |
| Mixed Assets - Aggressive GBP | Aberdeen Multi-Asset |
Next on the list is the highly impressive AA-rated Joseph McFadden who co-manages the Aberdeen US Smaller Companies fund with Ralph Bassett.
This is unquestionably one of the best US smaller companies portfolios in the world. Over the past five years the duo rank 8/604 managers globally on a risk-adjusted basis, which puts them in the 98th percentile in this highly competitive sector.
Then we get to AA-rated Asian equity specialist Adrian Lim. While Aberdeen’s veteran fund manager Hugh Young has been through a torrid run of performance over the past five years in the same field, Lim has consistently stayed ahead of the benchmark.
Following Lim is Standard Life Investments (SLI) top rated fund manager, A-rated David Cumming. As manager of the group’s UK Equity Recovery fund he has consistently outperformed the benchmark and only failed to receive a monthly rating three times since September 2013.
Veterans' day
Hugh Young is the longest serving manager across either group with nearly 30 years as named fund manager in Asian equities.
He is the individual with the most experience in active in this sector, following last week’s announcement that Stewart Investor’s Angus Tulloch is set to retire.
While recent performance hasn’t been great, Young more than anyone is responsible for making Aberdeen what is today.
Following him are a clutch of SLI managers in UK centric equity sectors. Susan Tarry in Europe excluding UK, Karen McKellar in UK all companies and the renowned Harry Nimmo in UK smaller companies. Rounding out the top 10 in the longevity stakes are Aberdeen’s mixed asset manager Simon Wood and global emerging market stalwart Devan Kaloo.
Greater than a sum of its parts
Next up we take a look at the combined groups Citywire Group Ratings. These look at performance of every manager in a sector over a seven year period and reward consistency and longevity.
| Group Ratings Breakdown | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Income | ||
| Sector | Rating | Group |
| Emerging Markets Global Hard Currency | Silver | SLI |
| Europe High Yield | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| Equities | ||
| Sector | Rating | Group |
| Asia Pacific Excluding Japan | Silver | SLI |
| Asia Pacific Including Japan | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| China | Gold | SLI |
| Emerging Markets Europe | Silver | Aberdeen |
| Global | Silver | SLI |
| Global Emerging Markets | Gold | Aberdeen |
| Global Emerging Markets Smaller Companies | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| India | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| Japanese Small & Medium Companies | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| Latin America | Silver | Aberdeen |
| Natural Resources | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| UK Equity Income | Bronze | SLI |
| US Small & Medium Companies | Gold | Aberdeen |
| Mixed Assets | ||
| Sector | Rating | Group |
| Absolute Return GBP | Bronze | Aberdeen |
| Balanced GBP | Bronze | SLI |
| Conservative GBP | Bronze | SLI |
Again Aberdeen are bring the lion’s share to equation with a greater number of group ratings. Though neither group currently has a platinum rating awarded to the top 5% of groups in each sector.
At an individual sector level the bias towards equity markets is clear with just two ratings awarded for fixed income; for performance in hard currency emerging market debt and European high yield
In equity markets it is perhaps surprising to see SLI awarded a rating for Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, which has for so long been Aberdeen’s bread and butter.
This has been achieved in the main by William Malcolm manager of the Standard Life Inv Asian Pacific Growth and Standard Life Inv Pacific Basin funds and who ranks 48/137 managers globally for his risk-adjusted returns over the past five years.
The standout ratings are the Golds received in China by SLI and in Global Emerging Markets and US Smaller Companies by Aberdeen.
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