About the 2014 Award Winners

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Fund Manager of the Year Sector Award Winners

Australasian Equity

Milford Trans-Tasman Fund - Milford Asset Management

The Milford Trans-Tasman fund aims to outperform a 50/50 mix of the NZX50 Portfolio Index and ASX200 Total Return Index (in NZ dollars). The Fund may hold up to 20 percent in Cash. A fundamental research-driven investment approach places a strong emphasis on industry and company analysis, company visits and particular importance is placed on the quality of directors and management of the company to ensure adherence to corporate governance practices acceptable to Milford. Currency hedging and derivatives may be used for risk management purposes.

International Equity

OneAnswer SAC International Share Fund - ANZ Investments

The OneAnswer Single Asset Class - International Share Fund uses a multi-manager international equity approach that aims to diversify manager risk, yet retain a superior expected alpha. Until July 2014 the selection of managers included Franklin Equity Group, LSV Asset Management, and MFS Institutional Advisors. Post July 2014, Vontobel Asset Management was added to the mix of managers.

The mandate for this fund excludes NZ and Australian equities and aims for an average tracking error of five percent against the MSCI All Countries (ex-Australia). The ANZ Investments team manages the underlying currency exposures where appropriate to protect the NZ dollar return of the investments.

New Zealand Equity

Fisher Funds NZ Growth - Fund Fisher Funds

The Fisher Funds NZ Growth Fund aims to achieve long term capital growth, investing primarily in mid to small cap stocks, but may include unlisted New Zealand companies and bank deposits. The fund's performance can deviate substantially from that recorded by the NZX50 Gross Index.

The team uses a stock picker approach, emphasising qualitative factors, but will not invest in companies whose business activities are not clear, lack focus, and are not market leaders in their fields of expertise. A STEEPP process is used, which looks at the Strength, Track record, Earnings history, Earnings outlook, People and Pricing of a business. Stocks weightings are based on manager conviction rather than an index, with the highest conviction stocks usually at 10 – 20 percent of the portfolio. A buy-hold philosophy is used, which is reflected in relatively low portfolio turnover. The fund policy is to always remain fully invested, with around 5% cash retained for liquidity purposes. There are typically 15 - 20 stocks held in the portfolio.

NZ Fixed Interest

Nikko AM NZ Corporate Bond Fund - Nikko Asset Management NZ

The Nikko AM NZ Corporate Bond Fund is managed by Nikko Asset Management New Zealand’s (formerly Tyndall Asset Management) fixed interest team, based in Auckland and a wholly owned subsidiary of Nikko Asset Management, a Japanese asset management group. The team is led by Fergus McDonald who has spent over three decades in the New Zealand investment management industry.

The fund is constructed to achieve a weighted average credit rating of A (S&P rating) on capital invested for investors with a low to moderate risk profile and a three to five- year investment timeframe. The fund provides investors regular quarterly income whilst preserving the capital value.

The fund's investment objective is to outperform the return of the NZ Government Stock Index by 1.5 percent per annum before fees, measured over a rolling three year period.

NZ Property

OneAnswer SAC Property Securities - ANZ Investments

The OneAnswer Single Asset Class - Property Securities Fund aims to provide excess returns over the NZX Property Gross Index (including imputation credits) over a rolling three year basis. The fund invests primarily in New Zealand and Australian listed property and / or property companies intended to be listed. The Fund does not distribute income.

The process is very much "bottom-up" driven, with primary focus on high quality income generating assets with strong management spread across a diversified range of property securities in order to capitalise on the strength of different markets at different times. The manager's approach to listed real estate is consistent with their wider equities approach, taking positions driven by secular themes, exploiting economic and market cycles and investing in mispriced sustainable growth opportunities.

Australian Equity

Devon Australian Fund - Devon Funds Management

The Devon Australian Fund invests in 25 - 35 companies with the aim to construct a portfolio of researched stocks predominantly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (no New Zealand shares) that will generate returns over the medium to long term (more than five years). The fund is actively managed, which means the holdings may differ considerably from its ASX200 index. The research will focus on the free cash flow generated by companies, valuations, industry characteristics, management quality and the robustness and growth potential of the business, plus may include derivatives, cash and fixed interest.

While the fund tends to be fully invested, when there are few compelling investment opportunities, the fund may hold up to 20 percent cash or cash equivalent securities.

Currency hedging depends on the manager’s discretion.

International Fixed Interest

Fisher Funds High Income Fund - Fisher Funds

The Fisher Funds High Income Fund aims to provide a stable level of income with modest capital growth while investing in a mix of global fixed interest, domestic fixed interest and cash across diverse sectors. The manager will focus on mitigating the downside risk, and if there is no investment opportunity then will hold cash to ensure absolute return.

The investment process begins with global macro assessment and in-house research (quantitative screens) identifying specific investment opportunities. The manager uses a modified STEEPP process before taking a live position.

The Fund divides its risk into beta and alpha components: The Beta component is driven by the results of the global macro assessment process, and the Alpha component seeks to profit from market inefficiencies, risk mispricing and special situations in order to generate positive returns in both rising and falling markets. Additional consideration is paid to the concentration and correlation between its investments.

Constraints on portfolio holdings aim to ensure management of risk and allow flexibility for the manager to produce alpha using credit selection and duration management.

All offshore foreign exchange exposure is hedged.

 

Note:

• There were no nominees in the NZ Cash or Mortgage sectors satisfying the Awards criteria.
• Smartshares and smartkiwi were not considered for the Fund Manager of the Year Awards 2014.