The results of the Professional Planner and Zenith 2015 Fund Awards have recently been released and the results are worth noting by those who invest in this sector of the market.
Investing in an outperforming fund manager can be a clever, low risk and low-time consuming way to allocate your money into the equity market.
There is, however, another way to boost your wealth via fund managers.
Given the attractive business model of established funds management companies it is worth considering the alternative to investing in a managed fund, which is owning shares in a funds management company.
This is especially poignant considering the share price gains some of these listed firms have achieved compared with the underlying funds they manage thanks to the inherent leverage in their business models.
Award Winners
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) was named Fund Manager of the Year and also won the Infrastructure category.
AMP Capital, a division of AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) won the award for the Property category.
Wilson Asset Management which is the management company behind a range of listed investment companies (LICs) including WAM Capital Limited (ASX: WAM) won the award for the LIC category.
The funds management arm of Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) won the Australian Equities – Alternatives Strategies category.
One noticeable absentee from the list was the highly regarded global investment firm Platinum Asset Management Limited (ASX: PTM) which failed to win either of the International Equities categories.
Significant Outperformance
While Magellan's funds have performed well for investors, if you were lucky enough to be a shareholder in the company over the past five years you would be celebrating a near 1,900% rise in the value of your shares!
The gains for owning Perpetual and Platinum over the same time period are nowhere near as impressive (just under 40% growth) however this is still more than double the return of the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO).
