Manager Research

We have concluded our review of the PSG Balanced Fund and have retained our Tier 3 rating.

Since our previous review in 2023, PSG have announced the departure of their CEO Anette Ahern and the appointment of Lyle Sankar as her replacement. Lyle previously served as Head of Fixed Income at PSG and although we were not expecting his appointment to the CEO position, we were able to gain comfort in the change and continue to believe that the PSG business supports long-term investment management.

In addition to the CEO change, we took the opportunity to review our rating on the PSG Balanced Fund, managed by Justin Floor and Dirk Jooste. In general, we have seen improvements in the investment process, particularly around risk management and portfolio construction. However, the primary reason for retaining a Tier 3 rating is because we believe the global equity process is still in-development and forming an appropriate return expectation for this part of the portfolio remains a challenge.

PSG have also recently announced that Marc Beckenstrater will join their investment team, where he will be part of multi-asset committee and will manage the PSG Diversified Income Fund (not rated). We know Marc well from our engagements with him in a previous role as CIO of M&G South Africa and have a positive view on him as an investor. We will need to spend more time with Marc and the PSG team to gain a full appreciation of his role within the investment team before forming a view, however, we will continue to monitor the business as part of our coverage process.