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20 Jan 2025

Update On The Multiple-Counsellor Manager Mix for 2025

Foord has successfully operated a multiple-counsellor system for the management of investment portfolios for the past 15 years. Managing Director PAUL CLUER provides an update to investors on changes for 2025.

Giant US fund manager Capital Group pioneered the multiple-counsellor system in the late 1950s. Foord adopted it in 2009 and has successfully used the method for the past 15 years. The multiple-counsellor approach divides investment portfolios among two or more portfolio managers. These managers make independent investment decisions and manage their portions as though they were separate funds.

The system produces an investment result which is a blend of each manager’s best efforts. We have found that this contributes to consistency of investment returns and continuity of management. It also manages key-man risk and helps to expose junior fund managers slowly to real assets, with judicious first allocations. Finally, it is a useful tool in managing portfolio manager capacity. 

We review the multiple-counsellor portfolio manager mix and weights annually. This year, we have made changes to the mix and weights of the Foord Conservative and Foord Balanced Funds and related pension fund investment strategies in South Africa, and to the Foord International Fund offered out of Luxembourg.

In the South African Foord Conservative and Foord Balanced Funds and related strategies — which include domestic balanced mandates — Wim Murray (40) is included into the manager mix for the first time. Wim has been a multiple-counsellor manager on the Foord Equity Fund and related SA-equity strategies for the past three years. Together with Chief Investment Officer Nick Balkin and portfolio manager Nancy Hossack, he has built an impressive track record, outperforming the benchmark by 5% per annum for the last three years. We are excited for his contribution to the multi-asset strategies for which he has run model portfolios for three years.

Founder Dave Foord (72) retires from these strategies after 41 years of continuous management of pension fund monies. He continues to manage South African low-equity multi-asset portfolios, including the Nedgroup Stable Fund. He remains lead fund manager on the flagship Foord Flexible Fund.

Abroad, Foord International Fund portfolio managers Dave Foord and Brian Arcese are now joined by portfolio manager JC Xue (36). JC has been a multiple-counsellor manager on the Foord Global Equity Fund for the past four years, where he has built an enviable individual track record. He is also one of two managers on the Foord Asia ex-Japan Fund, which has outperformed its benchmark and peer group since its July 2021 launch in difficult Asian markets.

The multiple-counsellor portfolio managers listed here, along with Ishreth Hassen in Singapore and fixed-income specialists Rashaad Tayob and Farzana Bayat, form the core of Foord’s investment management team. They are supported by seasoned private client portfolio manager and analyst Mike Townshend and a quality team of research analysts in South Africa and abroad.

Insights

20 Jan 2025

Update On The Multiple-Counsellor Manager Mix for 2025

Foord has successfully operated a multiple-counsellor system for the management of investment portfolios for the past 15 years. Managing Director PAUL CLUER provides an update to investors on changes for 2025.

Read more

20 Jan 2025

Food Producers — Back On The Menu

Historically, the Food Producers sector on the JSE Limited has been unloved, for understandable reasons. However, the sector has heated up and was one of the best performing sectors on the local bourse in 2024.…

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