Page 161 - Profile's Unit Trusts & Collective Investments - September 2025

Fund manager interviews Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Fund manager interviews
NQF
Relevant to
The fund manager interviews presented in this chapter provide 119997: 3
a fascinating insight into the different approaches to investment 242594: 2, 3
243130: 2, 3
management required by different types of collective investment 243148: 2
schemes, and a range of views for the future. The interviews are 243153: 4
comments from fund managers about the way in which they manage their
funds, how they make investment decisions, what they anticipate for the year ahead
and, in some cases, specific shares which they favour for their portfolios.
For this issue, a selection of top performing funds was made in order to represent both the
major collective investment scheme managers and a cross-section of categories (general equity,
specialist equity, bond funds, hedge funds, etc). The managers of all the funds selected were invited
to contribute. Not all those invited were able or willing to make a contribution, so the interviews
included here do not necessarily cover all the sectors which we would like to cover.
In addition to the comments provided by each fund manager, we also show the one and three
year lump sum returns (NAV-to-NAV, dividends reinvested) for each featured fund, the average
performance of the sector, and inflation for the period. The performance figures are annual
compound returns (CAGR).
Bear in mind that the performance figures for each fund are not simply a function of each
manager’s approach or skill. With the exception of hedge funds and some multi asset funds, the
mandates of unit trusts require the fund manager to remain invested in particular sectors or asset
classes regardless of the state of the markets. This means that a fund manager’s choices in a bear
market might be limited to switching part of the portfolio from growth shares to defensive stocks.
In short, the performance figures often reflect sector performance as well as manager performance.
The interviews reveal both the different approaches of different managers, and the significant effect
of sector choice. The manager of a specialist theme fund, for example, works on the assumption that
investors in the fund want to be fully invested in that sector. The manager will see his or her job as
outperforming the fund’s benchmark (and its peers); not making asset allocation choices.
In other words, the manager of a theme fund is not striving for an absolute return. This makes the
choice of sector (and fund) very important from the investor’s point of view.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Aeon Balanced Prescient Fund
Sector: South African–Multi Asset–Medium Equity
Portfolio managers: Asief Mohamed, Jay Vomacka and Muneer Ahmed
Benchmark: CPI + 5%
Returns to investors 1 year 3 years
Aeon Balanced Prescient Fund 12.99% 14.66%
Sector Average 14.12% 12.36%
Inflation (CPI) 3.02% 4.49%
ProfileData performance stats to 30 June 2025: CAGR with dividends reinvested

Describe your investment universe
The Aeon Balanced Prescient Fund is a multi-asset portfolio with a broad and flexible investment
universe, constructed to provide diversified exposure to both local and global markets. As a

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