Manager Research

The evolution of the Stanlib investment capability has taken a further step with changes to the Multi-Asset and Equity franchises. Clients may recall the difficult period Stanlib went through in 2008-2010 which resulted in a restructured investment process in line with what is in place today. At that time, specialisation was a focus, but management and control of the process was poor which resulted in bad outcomes for investors. Since then, they have had a strong focus on building a credible investment capability which can stand up to any local offering. It is pleasing to see that the core Stanlib team and process has now remained in place for a significant period (6-7 years) and the benefits of this continuity show in the recent business review we performed in May 2016.

To allow them to have a more focused equity outlook Stanlib have decided to combine all of their equity franchises (Core, Value, Unconstrained) together to form a single Equity franchise under the leadership of Herman van Velze. Herman is currently Head of Investments and one of the co-managers of the Multi-Asset Franchise. He will continue in this role and will now lead this ‘new’ franchise from October 2016. Herman has more than 23 years of portfolio management experience focused on balanced and South African equity portfolios. He will be supported by Theo Botha, who has more than 27 years’ industry experience in various research and equity portfolio management roles.

This appears to be a further attempt to focus the investment ‘DNA’ so that clients are more aware of their capability. The world has come full circle: from single ‘house views’ in the 1990’s, to specialisation in the 2000’s, and back to more centralised house views today.

The Multi-Asset Franchise will continue to be led by Robin Eagar, who has been Co-Head of the franchise since 2010. Robin has more than 18 years’ of investment experience. The multi asset team he leads is experienced and includes senior portfolio manager Warren Buhai (15 years’ experience), and portfolio managers; Anwaar Wagner (17) and Kobus Nell (7).

We feel that this is positive change as we believe it is good to manage your equities as a single franchise. For now the affected fund ratings remain unchanged (Equity; SA Equity; Balanced; Balanced Cautious) We are also in the process of finalising a series of ratings on the Stanlib fixed income capability.