Brandywine Global Opportunistic Equity Fund awarded second ‘Recommended’ rating

Felicity Walsh

Brandywine Global, a specialist investment manager of Franklin Templeton, is pleased to announce the receipt of a ‘Recommended’ rating by Zenith for the Brandywine Global Opportunistic Equity Fund (GOE).

Zenith Investment Partners is a leading investment research and managed account provider, with a 20-year track record of delivering premium investment research, fund ratings and investment portfolio solutions for financial advisers.

“This ‘Recommended’ rating from Zenith follows on from Lonsec’s Recommended rating in May and is further proof of the investment management team’s capabilities in this space,” Felicity Walsh, Managing Director Franklin Templeton Australia said.

“Launched earlier this year, this fund expands Franklin Templeton Australia’s suite of global equity strategies, catering to investors seeking differentiated active opportunities. The strategy leverages top-down macroeconomic insights to complement comprehensive fundamental value driven bottom-up research and we are delighted to see Zenith acknowledge the success of this approach,” she added.

In its report, Zenith said it believes the fund is well-managed by an experienced investment team, that adopts a differentiated investment approach combining macroeconomic and fundamental analysis.

The Global Opportunistic Equity team is led by James J. Clarke and Sorin Roibu, CFA, who are responsible for managing the fund, and who have been involved in the management of the strategy since 2013 and 2014 respectively.

“Zenith believes the portfolio managers have built a strong long-term partnership, underpinned by their complementary expertise and experience,” the report said.

“The team is bolstered by Brandywine’s Global Macroeconomic Research team of over 30 members. Given that the investment process relies heavily on macro insights and views, Zenith believes this resource provides great benefits to the GOE team,” the report stated.

The Brandywine Global Opportunistic Equity Fund invests in 60 to 100 global companies, limiting stock position size to five per cent at purchase, and aims to outperform the MSCI ACWI and/or Russell Global Index.

“We note that the portfolio managers have demonstrated a strong long-term track record through multiple market cycles, which underpins our confidence in the investment strategy,” Zenith said.

The investment team identifies investment themes through detailed research and, given Brandywine’s value-biased investment process, assessing the downside risks to individual stocks takes on even greater significance.

Co-Portfolio Manager and Director of Fundamental Equity Research, James Clark added, “Our investment process seeks ‘multiple ways to win’ through macro, market assessment and stock selection, which has generated highly differentiated outcomes relative to peers. We believe value as a style will deliver in the long run, and we see extremely attractive valuations in what we currently own with many stocks held trading at 8-10 times earnings.”