WS Wise Multi-Asset Growth

This fund sits in the Investment Association Flexible sector, which means the manager is afforded a significant degree of discretion over asset allocation and is allowed to invest up to 100% in equities. WS Wise Multi-Asset Growth invests in around 30-60 underlying funds and investment trusts, with a preference for out-of-favour areas. Turnover of underlying funds in the portfolio tends to be very low.

Previously TB Wise Multi-Asset Growth

Our opinion

We like the team’s straightforward process and focus on managers with a simple, yet disciplined investment process. The focus on high quality funds, coupled with strong exposure to investment trusts, offers a valid alternative in the IA Flexible sector. Backed by an experienced management team, we like the high conviction positions the managers take – something which is supported by the low turnover of funds.

Fund manager

Vincent Ropers joined the Wise Funds team in April 2017 as a co-portfolio manager. In his previous role, Vincent managed a Tactical Asset Allocation mandate as part of the multi asset investing team at Standard Life Investments. He joined Standard Life Investments from Ignis Asset Management where he started as a fund manager in the multi-manager team, before joining the asset allocation team at its creation.

Philip Matthews joined the Wise Funds team in September 2018 as co-portfolio manager. He has previously worked as a UK equity manager at both at Jupiter and Schroders. Philip began his fund management career at Jupiter in 1999, spending 13 years managing retail and institutional equity portfolios.

We invest in talented people who benefit from both macroeconomic and valuation tailwinds, across asset classes and geographies. While talent doesn’t go away, winds can turn, so we keep our asset allocation as flexible as possible with no set parameters.

Vincent RopersFund manager

Investment process

The team adopt a very slight value bias which means buying a stock or fund at a low share price and waiting until it increases in value before selling. However, the fund is not exclusively value in nature. The process starts by building a macroeconomic position and then creating an asset allocation framework from a growth, risk and value perspective. These macro views are fed by the teams’ consistent meetings with managers. The team will look to meet the managers of a product on at least two occasions before adding them to a portfolio. Any further meetings prior to inclusion are due to concerns the product is too expensive, in which case the managers will keep in close contact should the price fall to an acceptable level.

The principle difference between the process of choosing an investment trust and a fund is from a valuation perspective, in this case the managers will spend more time on liquidity, flows and sentiment on an investment trust.

To ensure the managers have strong conviction in their choices any addition in the portfolio must be worth at least 1%, with the managers building from there. The managers will not invest in any funds or investment trusts which have less than £50m of assets, which helps from a liquidity front.

ESG

ESG - Limited
The team at Wise believes the analysis of ESG factors not only opens up potential investment opportunities but also highlights potential risks, both of which should lead to better investment outcomes. The team actively discusses these factors with its investment managers and expects them to do the same with their underlying holdings. This policy is applied across all asset classes the team invests in whether held directly or indirectly via third party funds.

Whilst the team invests in funds for whom improving corporate governance forms part of their investment strategy or which invest into sectors that create a positive societal or economic impact, the fund itself does not explicitly adopt non-financial considerations, such as an ethical policy or specific exclusions.

The team reads research and annual reports, and holds meetings with executive management teams, board members and fund managers to give it a rounded view of the particular ESG issues facing direct or underlying holdings. The team also favours the investment trust structure for their holdings – where it believes there is strong corporate governance oversight provided by an independent board. It is also active on voting resolutions.

Risk

WS Wise Multi-Asset Growth has been less volatile than the IA Flexible sector in the past decade. As a multi-asset vehicle, the fund has around 30-60 underlying holdings to offer diversification. The team focus on high-quality funds and investment trusts investing in out-of-favour areas, this means performance can take longer to come through.

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