This year’s winners of Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards for Austria have been announced. Based entirely on quantitative criteria, the industry’s premier awards programme recognises the country’s best performing funds through a rigorous and independent assessment process.
- For over 30 years and in 17 countries worldwide, the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards have honoured funds and fund management companies that have outperformed their peers on a risk-adjusted basis.
- The awards recognise mutual funds and fund families from across all asset classes, including equity, bond, mixed-asset, commodity and alternatives, with additional awards presented to pension funds and exchange-traded funds in specific fund award universes.
- 2020 was a year like no other. Read what winners say about their achievement and the value these awards create for their firms, clients, and the industry.
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Explore key industry insights and predicted trends from the 2021 fund industry leaders
In a year where market volatility reached record levels, and where business and operational models were completely upended, recipients of the 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards for Austria deserve a special mention for their resilience to a myriad of market risks, and commendation for their vision, innovation and mastery of today’s rapidly evolving financial markets. Congratulations to each winner.
The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards, granted annually, highlight funds and fund companies that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers.
The awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. The fund with the highest Lipper Leader for consistent return (effective return) value in each eligible classification wins the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award.
Winners of the 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards for Austria
Individual classifications of three-, five-, and ten-year periods, as well as fund families with high average scores for the three-year period, are also recognised. The awards are based on Refinitiv Lipper’s proprietary methodology.
Watch: Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards
With a 48-year track record of providing independent content, Refinitiv Lipper data encompasses over 345,000 share classes across over 80 countries. Refinitiv Lipper Leader ratings are available for mutual funds registered for sale in 47 markets with over 500 global and 174 U.S. fund classifications.
A message from Refinitiv Lipper
Robert Jenkins, Head of Research, Lipper, Refinitiv, said: “This year’s Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards recognised the steadfast resolve of award-winning managers and firms who successfully navigated one of the sharpest market downturns and recoveries on record, enabling investors to maintain a level of economic confidence amidst a backdrop of uncertainty.
“In a year that endured the impacts of an unprecedented global humanitarian crisis, in which markets reflected investors’ emotions of shock and optimism, there was a degree of solace in having one’s financial fortunes overseen by the stewardship of professional money managers.
“The winners of the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards for Austria 2021 deserve recognition for their exceptional work in mitigating substantial risks, while delivering superior returns.”
Exclusive media partner coverage with Geld Magazin
View the coverage, interviews and industry insights from Geld Magazin, exclusive media partner for the 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards for Austria.
Messages from winners of the Lipper Fund Awards for Austria
This year’s award winners share what their award means for their firm and clients.
AXA Investment Managers
“We are very proud that Lipper has recognised our expertise across fixed income and Swiss equities at AXA IM. The Lipper awards highlight the robustness of our investment process and provide independent recognition of our success in delivering good client outcomes.
“Coming so early in the year, they provide a strong foundation for us to build on in 2021, particularly with our exciting plans for Responsible Investment.
“On behalf of everyone at AXA IM, I would like to thank Lipper for these awards and its acknowledgment of the hard work done by our fixed income and equity teams for investors.”
Andreas Hecker, Head Client Group Core Germany & Austria, AXA Investment Managers
Comgest
“We are honoured to be awarded by the prestigious institution and jury of the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards. Being selected yet again shows that the cooperation between our excellently aligned teams in Europe and Japan is highly successful.
“The Comgest Growth Europe Opportunities fund enables us to invest in quality stocks at an earlier stage of growth or with greater cyclical sensitivity, and our Comgest Growth Japan fund focuses on the targeted selection of companies that achieve above-average earnings growth over the long term.
“Receiving the awards is a testament not only to the team’s performance, but also to Comgest’s trusted investment philosophy.”
Dieter Wimmer, Head of Sales Austria, Comgest Deutschland GmbH
Credit Mutuel Asset Management
“I am very happy for our clients, and I think that European real estate equities are still a relevant diversification for investors; they provide both liquidity and strong performance for the long term.”
Alexis Bossard, Fund Manager, CM-AM Pierre fund
Eyb & Wallwitz
“Eyb & Wallwitz is an independent asset management company based in Germany. Established in 2004, our company has proven to be a reliable partner for established institutional clients in German-speaking countries and is now one of the largest independent asset managers in Germany.
“Winning the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award means that our team’s hard work, dedication and passion has been rewarded. For our clients, it confirms that they have put their money to work in the right place.
“This award is one of the most respected in the industry and shows to our clients and also to the industry that Eyb & Wallwitz can deliver a very high and solid quality over a long-term period in respect to all the required criteria.”
Uwe Diehl, Managing Director / Head of Sales, Eyb & Wallwitz
Goldman Sachs
“At Goldman Sachs Asset Management, our clients are at the centre of everything we do. To best serve our clients’ diverse and evolving needs, we have built our business to be global and broad and to have deep across asset classes, geographies and investment solutions. We are very pleased about this award, as it proves that we are on the right course.
“Our product teams are always focused on delivering consistent and persistent outcomes for our clients. We are honoured to have their hard work and success recognised at this year’s Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards, which have a strong reputation, particularly among professional investors and market experts.”
Sandra Straka, Head of Sales Austria, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Guinness Asset Management
“We are delighted to have been awarded a 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award in recognition of our fund’s consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to its global equity income peers over 10 consecutive years.
“When we launched the fund over a decade ago in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, we had set out to construct a portfolio that could weather whatever the next crisis might be, by investing in companies with resilient business models, strong balance sheets and consequently an ability to maintain or grow their dividends during challenging economic circumstances.
“Having outperformed the MSCI World Index in all of the largest drawdowns since the launch of the fund, it was particularly gratifying during last year’s dividend drought to see the fund’s portfolio sustain only one dividend cut, with 28 out of our 35 holdings growing their dividend, six keeping their dividends flat, and no companies cancelling their dividend completely.
“Our strategy remains the same as it was 10 years ago – a high-quality global approach that aims to deliver capital appreciation alongside a sustainable, growing dividend stream over the long term, and we look forward to continuing to provide this for our clients over the next 10 years.”
Matthew Page, Portfolio Manager, and Ian Mortimer, Portfolio Manager, Guinness Asset Management
Janus Henderson Investors
“We are delighted to have been recognised by Refinitiv with a number of awards highlighting our expertise across fixed income and real estate equities.
“These awards demonstrate our commitment to delivering on our strategy of simple excellence by producing dependable investment outcomes for our clients.”
Daniela Brogt, Head of Sales Germany and Austria, Janus Henderson Investors
Jupiter Asset Management
“We are honoured to receive this award and we are very pleased with the success of the Jupiter Financial Innovation fund.
“At Jupiter, we believe in the value of active minds. The global financial equities sector, to which this fund is designed to give investors a better way of allocating, is a good example of how an active approach can generate alpha.
“This high conviction fund has achieved this by investing in dynamic companies driving disruption and innovation in global fintech and financial services.”
Dominik Issler, Head of Germany & Austria, Jupiter Asset Management
Kepler
“It was a great pleasure for the whole team to be once more again winner in the Bonds Europe sector. For us as a team it is very important to deliver an excellent return to our clients over a long period.
“Short-term volatility is market driven and in the long run, we stay faithful to our bets regarding duration, spread products and currency exposure. Return and risk should meet the long-term profit expectations of our customer.”
Reinhold Zeitlhofer, Funds Manager, Kepler Fonds AG
Nordea Asset Management
“We are truly honoured to receive these prestigious awards from Lipper and to be recognised among our peers for the strong risk-adjusted performance of two of our Emerging Markets solutions.
“Putting risk at the heart of our investment process has allowed us to deliver consistent returns over time for our clients. We continuously work with their needs in mind, and being acknowledged by the industry for our day-to-day work is truly gratifying.”
Johannes Rogy, Head of Sales Central & Eastern Europe, Nordea Asset Management
PGIM Investments
“We are delighted that this award recognises the PGIM Jennison Emerging Markets Equity Fund for its outstanding three-year performance results.
“This is a testimony to our long-term track record of identifying the best high-growth companies and investing in them early, which has been part of Jennison Associates’ DNA since 1975.
“We are committed to providing clients with best-in-class investment solutions and consider today’s environment to be attractive for growth equity investors.”
Thiemo Volkholz, Vice President, Head of German, Austrian & Swiss Accounts, PGIM Investments
Seilern Investment Management
“We are pleased that the Seilern Global Trust fund could qualify for the highly respected Lipper Fund Awards in the categories for the five- and ten-year periods, within a group of 546 funds (for the five-year period).
“All of our funds follow the same Quality Growth Strategy that is based on Seilern’s ‘10 Golden Rules’. That our funds also qualified for Lipper Awards in previous years gives us confidence that our ’10 Golden Rules’ can contribute to protecting our clients’ assets in different market environments.”
Marco Lo Blanco, Michael Faherty (Portfolio Managers) and Karl Safft (Investment Specialist and Sales D-A-CH), Seilern Investment Management
UBAM
“We are delighted to have received a Refinitiv Lipper fund award for the UBAM – Global High Yield Solution, particularly on the fund’s 10th anniversary. With this fund, our goal is to deliver consistently strong, risk-adjusted performance for our clients and this award recognises this achievement.”
Philippe Graub, Head of Global and Absolute Return Fixed Income Team, Union Bancaire Privee
Vitruvius (Managed by Belgrave Capital Management Ltd.)
“Vitruvius SICAV is extremely pleased to receive the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards Austria 2021 award for Best Greater China Equity Fund Over 5 Years. For Vitruvius Greater China, it follows also being recognised by Refinitiv Lipper as the Best Greater China Equity Fund Over 5 Years in Switzerland.
“This result confirms that our approach continues to produce excellent results in identifying superior investment talent in Asia, as evidenced by our long-standing relationship with Greenwoods Asset Management, the advisor for Vitruvius Greater China Equity portfolio.
“We wish to thank our investors, our team and Refinitiv Lipper for their confidence and continued support.”
Mattia Nocera, Chief Investment Officer, Belgrave Capital Management Ltd (Ceresio Investors)
Vontobel
“The awards are a testament to our passion for high conviction active management and the strong performance culture inherent in our specialised and talented investment teams.
“As investors, our mission is clear: we aim to create added value for our clients and are committed to pursuing this objective with discipline and transparency.
“The active approach employed by our portfolio managers enables them to exploit investment opportunities, which is vitally important in this low-yield environment.
“We support independent thought, strong convictions and a forward-looking mindset. Thank you, Refinitiv for these awards.”
Simon Lue-Fong, Head of Fixed Income, Vontobel
Disclaimer:
The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards, granted annually, highlight funds and fund companies that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers.
The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. The fund with the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return (Effective Return) value in each eligible classification wins the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com Although Refinitiv Lipper makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained herein, the accuracy is not guaranteed by Refinitiv Lipper.
