Copia Investment Partners has announced that Lonsec has awarded the ECP Growth Companies Fund a “Recommended” rating in its first review of the Australian equity investment manager.
The Fund is managed by Sydney-based ECP Asset Management (ECP) and offers investors a concentrated and benchmark-unaware exposure to Australian shares (typically 25 – 30 stocks). ECP is one of five investment managers distributed by Copia in the retail and financial advice channel.
The Fund’s investment approach is based on ECP’s institutional ‘All Cap’ investment strategy, which has returned 14.2% per annum (after fees) since inception in July 2012, 4.9% ahead of the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index.
The All Cap strategy is in turn based on a similar strategy managed by ECP’s founders in a previous investment firm, dating back to 1996.
In its Report, Lonsec concluded that ECP has a “strong performance track record of alpha generation from the underlying strategy against the Benchmark” and “the Manager (ECP) applies a detailed bottom-up fundamental research effort that is considered logical, repeatable and robust.”
John Clothier, Copia General Manager Distribution welcomed the Recommended rating, noting that “it provides a gateway for financial advice practices relying on Lonsec research to access ECP as a highly-active solution to add to their portfolio mix. It is backed by the investment manager’s high investor alignment, strong performance record, large research engine and inclusion of ESG into their stock selection.”
The Fund’s Lonsec rating of Recommended follows a similar rating from Zenith in May 2020. The Fund is currently listed on Praemium, HUB24, Powerwrap and WealthO2 platforms, with Copia seeking further placements over coming months.