Independent global investment research firm launches UK fund manager search engine

Independent global investment research firm Vadevalor has launched a fund manager search engine as part of its rollout in the UK funds market.

The company has studied the thousands of equity fund managers working in the European market and assigned a score to the people it considers to have long-term added value.

Successfully launched in the Spanish market, Vadevalor said it uses simple criteria in rating managers.

• A “AAA” rating identifies professionals who have outperformed their relevant benchmarks for more than 10 years since the start of their fund management career. Examples of fund managers included in this category are Sharon Bentley-Hamlyn at Aubrey Capital Management and Katie Potts at Herald Investment Management.
• An “AA” rating identifies those who have outperformed their relevant benchmarks for more than five years since beginning their fund management career. This category includes Rachel Reutter at JO Hambro Capital Management and Gerrit Smit at Stonehage Fleming.
• Managers rated “A” will have outperformed their benchmark for more than three years since the start of their fund management career and manage a fund in excess of €50 million.
• Vadevalor Talent is the designation given to managers of emerging equity funds who have been investment managers for less than three years, or less than five years with assets under management of less than €50 million, and who do not currently meet the criteria for the Company’s AAA, ‘AA’ or ‘A’. Julia Angeles, Marina Record and Rose Nguyen of Baillie Gifford and James Wilson of Phoenix Asset Management are among the managers in this category.

Vadevalor’s research is carried out independently, with rated managers being able to use the Vadevalor accreditation and logo free of charge in their marketing and distribution activities.

Vadevalor considers its ratings to be both different from and complementary to other ratings given to UK fund managers.

Co-founder and managing partner, Javier Ribas Meneu, said: “When we started collecting data on fund managers in Spain, of the 20 fund managers with the best long-term results, only four held a 5-star Morningstar rating. [which measures a fund’s risk-adjusted return relative to similar funds]. This rating system, well established in European markets, puts more emphasis on short-term results and is a rating assigned to the fund and not to the manager.

On the other hand, the Vadevalor rating is assigned to individuals and is based on performance over longer periods compared to the fund’s benchmark indices, and not to the manager’s peers. When a manager’s performance is compared to the average performance of his peers, you find that more fund managers look good. Fewer managers outperform their relevant benchmarks than outperform their peers.”

They were so impressed with the search engine and rating system when they launched in Spain in 2020, leading Spanish financial services site Rankia sought an immediate collaboration with Vadevalor, creating access for over 800,000 investors. private.

The manager search engine is freely accessible on www.vadevalor.com and features fund managers working in firms based in both the UK and Spain.

Created in 2017, Vadevalor expects fund managers from across Europe to be present by the end of the year.

Commenting on its UK rollout, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Abhinav Premnath said: “The UK is the dominant European asset management market, so this was a logical next step as we seek to introduce the Vadevalor proposal in other areas and to work for our vision of developing a global brand, respected for its independence and objectivity, and recognized as generating value for its customers, employees and partners.

“In the European markets, you see far too many people buying the limited range of funds offered to them by large financial institutions, banks, insurance groups and others. These are often house products, with a disappointing performance profile The Vadevalor Fund search engine and manager rating system is easy to use and understand, and has been welcomed as warmly by UK managers and professional investors as when we launched the platform in Spain.

It allows investors to quickly and easily identify managers who have proven themselves over the long term, managers that we have identified as among the best in the sector of their choice. We are delighted to establish our operations in the UK, to make our data available to UK intermediaries and investors, and to play our part in enabling more and more people to make better investment decisions.”