Foord Edges Allan Gray, Truffle In Latest Ranking Of SA Top Active Managers

There are various rankings of active fund managers, but the one I prefer is the one published by global group Morningstar, the Chicago headquartered investment research group. Its latest rankings of South African active managers, published below, puts Dave Foord’s value house top of the pile ahead of dead-heaters Allan Gray and the emerging boutique Truffle. There is daylight between these three and the rest of the country’s 23 biggest asset managers.

Here’s a disclaimer – I have a soft spot for Foord, for two reasons. First, as a 35 year veteran of the money management business, Foord has done it the hard way, building his successful business by keeping a tight team, focusing on the investment basics and educating himself by reading and travelling widely. The second is that despite always keeping a low profile, Foord Asset Management was one of the very first advertisers at my first online publishing business, Moneyweb, steadily supporting us for years at the time the fledgling really needed it. You never forget friends like that. – Alec Hogg

• The Morningstar South African Rating Analysis of unit trusts is designed to compare managed fund ranges across South African asset managers by aggregating their Morningstar Ratings. The research format is calculated on a quarterly basis. It provides a quantitative assessment of the risk-adjusted return of all South African domiciled unit trusts carrying a Morningstar Rating. The Morningstar Rating for funds, often called the “Star Rating”, debuted in 1985 and was quickly embraced by investors. The Morningstar Rating is a quantitative assessment of a fund’s past performance and is measured from a minimum of one to a maximum of five stars. The methodology rates funds based on an enhanced Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that takes both return and risk into account. The Morningstar South African Rating Analysis aggregates the rankings of providers by brand name and thus provides a useful insight into the strengths and weaknesses of a firm’s fund range.