Investec UK Alpha and Rathbone Ethical Bond gain Elite Ratings

14th September 2015 - Investec UK Alpha and Rathbone Ethical Bond have been awarded an Elite Rating from FundCalibre.

Clive Hale, director of FundCalibre, said: “Both these funds are run by very strong characters  who have displayed consistent fund management skill over a number of years.

“Whilst Simon Brazier has been running the Investec UK Alpha fund for less than a year, he is using the same process as he used very successfully on the Threadneedle UK fund, which he ran for more than four years. In addition, he took a number of people from the Threadneedle UK equity team with him to Investec, so we are more than happy to transfer his AlphaQuest manager skill score to this fund and award it an Elite Rating. As a fund, it makes a very good core UK equity holding.

“Rathbone Ethical Bond is the first ethical fund we have rated. It has a very clear, four-step process and invests in quality investment grade bonds. It has a higher than average yield target at 5-7%. Bryn Jones is a conviction manager and either has a decent weighting to bonds he likes or nothing invested in those he doesn't. The ethical screen is very clear cut too: there are no bonds with involvement in mining, arms, gambling, pornography, animal testing, nuclear power, alcohol or tobacco. Holdings must also display at least one positive environmental, social or corporate governance quality.  This rules out about a third of the index, but Bryn has proven that good income and ethics can be combined.”