Amplify Investment Partners has continued its winning streak in the 2022 Raging Bull Awards as its Amplify SCI* Wealth Protector Fund won first place in the multi-asset low equity category for the second consecutive year.
The fund won for the best risk-adjusted performance over five years in its category, adding to last year’s first place certificate for straight line performance over three years.
“Winning the award again continues to prove that our strategy of finding some of the best small managers in the market gives us significant competitive advantage as they are nimble, and can quickly adjust to market conditions,” says Marthinus van der Nest, Head of Amplify. “This award recognises these skills in asset managers such as Truffle Asset Management, which manages this fund on our behalf.”
The Raging Bull Awards are the premier awards recognising the best performance in the collective investment schemes industry in South Africa.
The Amplify SCI* Wealth Protector Fund, managed by Iain Power and his team at Truffle Asset Management, has been ranked, relative to its peers in the multi-asset low equity space, number two since its August 2016 inception, number one in 2018 and 2019, and number six in 2020.
The multi-asset fund has a cautious risk profile, It is aimed at providing capital protection over a rolling one-year period and generating income over the medium term at low levels of volatility. The fund’s exposure to South African and foreign markets is capped at 40% for equities, 60% for bonds and 50% for cash. The limit for foreign exposure (including Africa) is 40% and 20% for property. Its benchmark is CPI +3% over a three-year rolling period.
End-December figures show that the fund had an annualised return of 12% over three years against a category average of 9.09% among 138 funds. It returned 9.74%, annually, over five years against a category average of 7.36% (118 funds).
The fund, and others in Amplify’s suite of unit trusts and hedge funds, has seen some of the biggest inflows over the past year on the back of good performance.
“Our managers across the board have been doing really well and we have been fortunate to see strong flows across our whole range,” says Van der Nest.
This award, as well as the significant inflows and relative outperformance, all speak to its unique ability to hand-pick agile, independent fund managers that have proved their ability to perform during volatility and uncertainty.
“This is evident in the way Truffle manages the Amplify SCI* Wealth Protector Fund,” says van der Nest. “Because its managers manage the fund on an absolute return basis, they are highly cognisant of risk in the markets. The equity distribution is different to the Truffle house view as they are aware of managing the risk; downscaling certain shares and taking positions in other shares they see as relatively low risk.
“We are proud of all our managers. Although it’s not about winning awards, receiving recognition in what have been very difficult markets over the last five years is recognition of our, and our manager’s processes, and the resulting performance,” Van der Nest concludes.
*Sanlam Collective Investments
Read more about Amplify Investment Partners here.