FE fundinfo reveals most successful fund managers

More than 60 leading fund managers have been nominated to compete for a coveted FE fundinfo Alpha Manager Award this year.

The Alpha Manager Awards, which are run each year by global fund data and technology company FE fundinfo, identify and celebrate the ‘Guardians of Fund Management’ across a range of different investment categories.

In a year where markets have suffered extreme volatility and the value of active fund management has come to the fore, fund managers are competing across 13 different categories covering a range of markets and asset classes. These include awards for managers operating in the Global, Global Emerging Markets, Europe, UK, US and APAC markets, as well as those in the Absolute Return, Strategic Bond and Sterling Fixed Income sectors, among others.

Competing for the most coveted ‘Best Alpha Manager’ award in 2021 are John Boselli from Wellington Asset Management, David Eiswert and Ben Griffiths from T.Rowe Price, Douglas Brodie from Baillie Gifford and Anthony Smouha from GAM.

This year also sees a record number of female fund managers being recognised for their achievements over the past year. Among the nominees are Sophie Earnshaw, who is part of a joint team (along with Roderick Snell and Will Sutcliffe) from Baillie Gifford competing in the Best Alpha Manager - Global Emerging Markets Equities category, as is Eva Fornadi (along with Franz Weis, Laurent Dobler, Arnaud Cosserat and Alistair Wittet) from Comgest, who are competing in the Best Alpha Manager – European Equities category. Dr. Ankur Crawford and Amy Zhang meanwhile are representing Alger Management in the Best Alpha Manager - US Equities category, while Sophia Li and Chantana Ward are part of joint teams representing First Sentier and Comgest respectively in the Best Alpha Manager – Japanese Equities category. Up against them will be Miyako Urabe from JP Morgan Asset Management, while in the Small Cap category, Amy Zhang is up for another award, and in the Best New Alpha Manager category, Denise Simon from Lazard has been nominated, as has Dr. Ankur Crawford.

Commenting on the nominees, Charles Younes, Research Manager at FE fundinfo, said:

“In what has been a difficult year across the board for fund managers, the Alpha Manager Awards highlight the achievements of the most successful. When many markets were collapsing throughout February and March last year these nominees were able to protect their clients throughout the downturn and were also able to capitalise quickly and effectively as markets recovered. As last year’s volatility has continued into this year, the Alpha Manager nominees have once again demonstrated the value in good active management.”

Tanvi Kandlur, Senior Fund Analyst at FE Investments, added:

“It is especially pleasing to see so many female fund managers competing for an Alpha Manager award this year. The industry has taken some important steps over the past 18 months to increase representation at management level, and, while clearly there is still much more to do, the effectiveness of many fund groups’ approach to improving diversity across their organisations is starting to become evident with these nominations. The Alpha Manager awards represent the pinnacle of achievement in the fund management industry and we wish all those nominated the best of luck.”

The shortlist for each category was determined by identifying the highest scoring FE fundinfo Alpha Managers from the 2021 rebalance. A mix of quantitative and qualitative assessment was then applied to pick the most successful from this shortlist.

To mark the performance of the UK’s best fund managers, FE fundinfo will be celebrating the ‘Guardians of Fund Management’ virtually on Wednesday 16 June.

To see the full list of nominations, please visit: www.alphamanagerawards.com