The nominations are in for the ninth annual Morningstar Pan-European Fund Manager of the Year Awards and we have a deserving group of finalists. The winners will be announced at the Morningstar Awards hosted at the ALFI Conference in Luxembourg on 7 March, 2018.
Global Equity Fund Manager of the Year Finalists
Manager: Gonzalo Pangaro
Nominated for work on: T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Equity
Gonzalo Pangaro is a talented fund manager who has been at the helm of the Silver-rated T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Equity fund since 2009. Pangaro has spent the bulk of his 24-year career at T. Rowe Price. He joined the emerging markets equity team in 1998 and first earned good results as the skipper of T. Rowe Price Latin America from 2004 to 2009.
Pangaro is backed by one of the largest research teams dedicated to emerging markets and his ability to effectively use the vast resources at his disposal also sets him apart. Under his leadership, T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Equity has consistently employed a well-proven investment process that targets industry leaders with strong growth prospects. His portfolio strikes the right balance between conservative and aggressive bets, which has helped performance in various market environments. We also appreciate that he aligns his interests with investors by having more than $1 million invested in the U.S.-sold fund T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock.
Manager: James Thomson
Nominated for work on: Rathbone Global Opportunities
James Thomson has provided investors with an admirable level of continuity, having been involved in the management of the Silver-rated Rathbone Global Opportunities fund since 2001. He became lead manager in 2003, since when he has richly rewarded investors with the consistent application of his idiosyncratic approach. His approach is quite unique in that he focuses far more on qualitative assessments of companies rather than quantitative screens in his idea generation.
He targets easy-to-understand businesses that have the ability to control their own destiny, i.e. those which aren’t overly reliant upon exogenous factors, which acts as an effective filter in whittling down the investment universe.
He has an established network of broker analysts that he has successfully leveraged over time, combining their insight with his own stock knowledge that he has built up over the years to identify companies that he thinks have superior growth prospects that are not fully appreciated by the market.
Despite not having the support of a cast of thousands in terms of analytical resource, he is backed by just one analyst, Thomson has consistently proved an adept stock-picker and a talented portfolio manager.
Manager: Terry Smith
Nominated for work on: Fundsmith Equity
Terry Smith has over three decades of investment experience, during which time he has developed his own approach to investing and portfolio management. This was first tested during his time as CEO at Tullet Prebon, where he started advising the pension fund from 2003.
He created his own investment boutique on the back of success on that mandate in 2010, launching Fundsmith Equity as its flagship product. His investment approach sees him construct a focused portfolio of companies that he considers to have high quality franchises that he would be happy to ‘hold for life’ - his outlook is one of the longest-term of any manager that we cover, with a portfolio turnover of under 5%. This also helps keep trading costs down, which Smith feels is important.
Smith’s knowledge of stocks is impressive - we believe that one of his strengths is his ability to look at companies with the viewpoint of a former CEO of a sizeable company. Even when factoring in the style tailwind, Smith’s stock selection has been consistently strong. His process is based on sound investment theory, has been developed over a long period of time, and has been implemented consistently.
