2021 FE fundinfo Alpha Managers revealed

• 72 new fund managers become Alpha Managers in 2021
• John Boselli from Wellington Management tops rankings for second year
• Fidelity International tops groups table again with most Alpha Managers
• IA Global the best performing sector

A record 72 new fund managers have been awarded ‘Alpha’ status in this year’s Alpha Manager list.

The coveted Alpha Manager list, which is compiled each year by global fund data and technology provider FE fundinfo, identifies and celebrates the top 10 per cent of UK retail-facing managers, based on their entire career performance.

Charles Younes, Research Manager at FE fundinfo, said:

“One of the most important things the events of 2020 taught us in the investment world is the importance of good active management. Throughout the pandemic, the best performing fund managers were not only able to avoid the worst of the market collapse in March but were also quick to capture the upside. Many passive funds, meanwhile, which have grown in popularity in recent years, were left to the whims of the market, which faced unprecedented volatility. The Alpha Manager ratings illustrate how the most successful managers were able to navigate these challenges and have consistently added value for investors, in very different market conditions.”

Alpha Managers

John Boselli, Senior Managing Director and Equity Portfolio Manager at Wellington Management topped this year’s list once again, having only joined the list in 2020. He currently manages the firm’s global, non-U.S. developed-market, and European quality-growth portfolios. Following John Boselli in the top five are David Tovey from BlackRock, David Eiswert from T. Rowe Price, Douglas Brodie from Baillie Gifford and Ben Griffiths, also from T. Rowe Price.

Groups

Fidelity International once again topped the group table with eleven Alpha Managers, narrowly beating Comgest Asset Management and Baillie Gifford who both had 10. Other major fund groups which saw several of their managers being awarded ‘Alpha’ status were T. Rowe Price with seven and BlackRock and Nomura Asset Management with six each. Blue Whale Capital, meanwhile, which is backed by Peter Hargreaves and performed admirably in FE fundinfo’s Crown Ratings at the first time of asking, also saw its manager Stephen Yiu retain his Alpha status.

Charles Younes said:

“Last year we noted that Fidelity had a number of Alpha Managers across a range of sectors, which was largely due to the collaborative environment they were able to create, where their support teams provided excellent feedback to the fund managers. Once again, the success of Fidelity’s approach has been demonstrated, where their fund managers have been able to fully concentrate on managing money in line with their mandates, which has been especially important over the past year.”

Sectors

Once again across the sectors, the 2021 Alpha Manager ratings revealed a strong year for global markets. The IA Global Sector returned an even greater number of Alpha Managers with 43 in total, up from 39 last year. The IA UK All Companies sector returned the second highest number of Alpha Managers with 18, but this was significantly down on last year, where it returned 33, demonstrating the difficulties UK markets faced over the past year.

Later in the year FE fundinfo will announce its Hall of Fame Managers. The Hall of Fame celebrates those managers who have been awarded an FE fundinfo Alpha Manager rating for the past seven consecutive years.