FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS
UK IS ABSOLUTE DIAMOND FOR GARTMORE
Gartmore has been in the news recently for all of the wrong reasons. However, the fund manager has finally got something to celebrate. Its UK Absolute Return Fund, managed by Ben Wallace and Luke Newman, had its 10 year anniversary this week, and to top it off it posted a 10 per cent return for the year up to the end of April. The fund aims to achieve a positive absolute return over the long-term regardless of market conditions and it works in a similar way to Gartmore’s other star performer, the AlphaGen Octanis Fund. Here is to the next 10 years.
SCHRODERS FUNDS UNDER REVIEW
Morningstar, the independent fund research firm, has put two Schroders funds under review, Schroder ISF Euro Equity and Schroder ISF European Equity Alpha, following the resignation of the funds’ manager, Gary Clarke. “Our high opinion of the Schroder ISF European Equity Alpha fund has, however, been shaken by Clarke’s departure, with his replacement – Jamie Lowry – running money for the first time,” Morningstar wrote in a note earlier this week. At the same time, it rated new-comer Investec’s Emerging Markets Debt fund as superior.
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY FUND
Tritax and Cedarwood Asset Management have teamed up to launch a property fund that will capitalise on the UK’s North Sea oil and gas market. The fund is targeting property in Aberdeen, home to 300 international gas, oil and sustainable energy firms. It expects to attract £100m in funds under management and it expects to achieve a 12.4 per cent annualised return over the five year investment term. The fund has already purchased an industrial estate in Aberdeen, and it believes that prices for this type of property will rise due to a lack of supply.