S&P removes from ‘On Hold’ & rates three OnePath Australian Equities Trusts
Standard & Poor’s Fund Services has announced ratings for three OnePath Trusts previously rated ‘On Hold’.
The OnePath Australian Shares Trust and the OnePath Select Leaders Trust were assigned four-star ‘NEW’ ratings while the OnePath Blue Chip Imputation Trust was assigned a three-star ‘NEW’ rating.
In February 2012, OnePath Funds Management Ltd., as responsible entity, announced its decision to move to an investment-manager partnership model. This follows last year’s acquisition of ING Investment Management (INGIM) in Australia by UBS Global Asset Management (UBS Global AM). The former ING single sector funds were rebranded OnePath funds; these funds will now be managed by a group of specialist investment managers.
UBS Global AM has been selected to manage OnePath’s Australian-equities large-cap funds including the OnePath Australian Shares Trust, the OnePath Select Leaders Trust, and the OnePath Blue Chip Imputation Trust. These funds were previously managed by INGIM.
Despite a number of changes in the UBS Global AM organisation in Australia, UBS Global AM has a strong and experienced Australian-equities team. The large companies team is now led by Jakov Males who is also the portfolio manager for all Australian-equities large-cap strategies. We hold Mr. Males’ portfolio-management skills in high regard and expect these funds to benefit from them in future.
The three-star rating of the Blue Chip Imputation Trust relative to the four-star ratings of the Australian Shares Trust and Select Leaders Trust, reflects the fact that the former is a new strategy for the UBS Australian-equities team and represents the portfolio manager’s first time running one with an imputation focus.
“While we believe the UBS investment process, with its emphasis on sustainable mid-cycle cash flows, is well-suited to an imputation-style fund, the lack of a track record in this strategy constrains our conviction relative to higher-rated peers who have run such a strategy for a number of years. We will be looking for UBS to be on track in its ability to meet the fund’s dual objectives, while adhering to risk limits, in order to raise our level of conviction for this fund,” said S&P Fund Services analyst Aniket Das.
