Star newcomers joining Europe's core market elite revealed

Market Snapshot

This month we broaden our scope of investment sectors even further adding some 38 new investment sectors ranging from euro inflation-linked bonds to global equity utilities. This has increased the number of managers we now track by some 20-30%.

This has led to an increase in the number of managers who received a rating across the region this month. In total 653 managers received a rating across Europe this month, a 34% increase from last month's 487.

A total of 2,679 ratings were awarded ratings, which was comprised of 399 AAA, 609 AA and 1,671 A individual ratings.

Highest New Entrant: Oscar Alvarez, Financial LAB

Rating

AA-rated in Luxembourg

Overview

One of the highest entrants in the region this month is Financial LAB AV manager Oscar Alvarez, co-manager on the fLAB SICAV-SIF fLAB Core fund.

This mixed asset fund has the remit to invest either purely in equities and/or purely in bonds, as well as a number of other instruments. According to the latest factsheet, equities currently dominate the holdings, making up 60% of the portfolio.

Alvarez has been managing the fund since its launch in 2009 and has earned a rating off the back of his solid three-year performance. Over this period, he has returned 23.58% in absolute terms.

This compares to the fund’s Citywire benchmark, the LCI MSCI World/CitigrEGBI/EONIA (30:35:35) index which rose 15.54% over this period.

Comeback Star: Thomas Brund, ISI

Rating

AAA-rated in Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland

Overview

Re-entering the ratings this month is AAA-rated bond manager Thomas Brund, who was last rated back in July 2012 when he was AA-rated in Germany and the Netherlands.

Brund is lead manager on the ISI Emerging Market and the ISI Emerging Market Local Currency Bond funds.

Both of these funds have performed well in absolute terms over the past three years, returning 43.49% and 38.49% respectively. This compares to their benchmark, the Cust Benchm JPM EMBI/ML EM EGBI (50:50) index, which rose 25.61% return over the same time frame.

Rising Star: Stephen Thornber, Threadneedle

Rating

AA-rated in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and UK

Overview

Threadneedle’s Stephen Thornber has increased his Citywire rating this month to a AA in eight markets covered by Citywire this month. He has held a rating in the region consistently since May 2012 and first came into the ratings in June 2011.

Thornber is lead manager on the Threadneedle Global Equity Income fund.

His investment strategy sees him take overweight positions in financials, consumer staples and telecoms, while being heavily underweight IT. This strategy has led the fund to top quartile returns over the last three years returning 49.46%, while his Citywire benchmark, the FTSE World TR GBP, rose 38.06%.

Group stakes

In the group stakes, Fidelity leads the way with 21 managers holding a rating in at least one of the 14 central European countries we cover. Climbing into joint second spot this month is JP Morgan, which sits alongside Baillie Gifford with 18 rated managers. Meanwhile, Blackrock and Schroders are tied for third with 16 rated managers each.