Citywire Ratings: uncovering the Americas’ ratings elite

Market Snapshot

In total 126 managers received a rating for their performance on funds registered for sale in Peru and/or Chile this month. Those managers have received a total of 23 AAA, 39 AA and 122 A ratings among the two countries that comprise the Citywire's Americas universe.

We currently track 962 managers running 1,282 funds, of which 674 have the necessary track record to warrant inclusion in our ratings.

Highest overall: Stuart Spodek & Tom Musmanno, BlackRock

AAA-rated in Chile

Overview

Co-managers Spodek and Musmanno work together on the BGF US Dollar Short Duration Bond A2 USD fund, which is registered for sale in Chile, where they have both earned themselves a AAA rating.

According to the fund’s most recent factsheet, the BGF US Dollar Short Duration Bond A2 USD fund had 90.2% allocated to investment grade debt, with 31.9% in BBB-rated paper. The remaining 9.8% was invested in BB-rated bonds.

On an absolute basis, the fund doubled the performance of its Citywire benchmark, the BofA Merrill Lynch US Corp & Govt 1-3 Years TR index, over the past 36 months. The fund returned 10.38% during this period, while the index rose 5.19% in US dollar terms.

Rising Star: Ken Taubes, Pioneer

Rating

AA-rated in Peru

Overview

Among the notable managers to have increased their ratings in the Americas this month is Pioneer’s Ken Taubes. The bond manager is AA-rated in Peru due to his performance on the Pioneer Funds US Dollar Aggregate Bd I No Dis USD.

Over the past 36 months, Taubes has posted a strong risk-adjusted performance. In absolute terms, he has returned 23.24% in local currency terms, while the fund’s benchmark, the Barclays US Aggregate Bond TR, returned 17.11%.

Group ratings

In the group stakes, the top three ranking sees JP Morgan Asset Management lead the way with 22 rated managers. This is while Fidelity has 17 rated managers and Morgan Stanley Investment Management sits in third place with 16 rated managers.