What fund managers can learn from Oasis

Oasis is back at Wembley this week, the culmination of a sell-out tour across the UK. If the reviews are to be believed, the band has got better with age – fewer fights, better discipline, a well-drilled set. We see the benefits of a few grey hairs in fund management as well, and while rock music and fund management may be very different disciplines, there is some commonality in those who last the distance.

For example, every great band will have a smorgasbord of influences. For Noel Gallagher it was: “The Jam, Stone Roses, The Smiths and The Beatles. I always used to bash about on this guitar, playing stuff like ‘Hey Jude’. Then in 1983, I saw The Smiths and I said, “That’s it!”. But they will adapt and build on those influences to create something different.

Fund management greats have also often learned from a master. Sean Peche, manager of the Ranmore Global Equity fund, for example, started his career emulating Jim Slater, having read his book ‘The Zulu Principle’. Using his theories, he did well, set up a hedge fund and had a few great years. However, he recognised the need to keep learning. He refined his process under Orbis founder Alan Gray and during his time at larger fund management groups.

“The hedge fund was really good. And then we had a tough time, and I went back to school. But I’m very fortunate because at each of those places, I learned a couple of key things. And every time I’ve worked with some superstars, I’ve thought “What am I going to learn from that person”?” He describes it as putting together a quiver full of arrows, where he gets an arrow from each person.

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Equally, top fund managers will often have spent time building a strong and stable team and getting it to work in harmony. It is true that few will have had the challenges faced by Oasis management in trying to get warring brothers Liam and Noel to appear again, but building an enduring team is an art form whether you’re a rock band or an investment manager.

A good example is the independent funds team at Jupiter, which manages the Jupiter Merlin Income and Balanced portfolios. John Chatfeild-Roberts may have been the nominal head, but it has always been a team effort. He has been careful to build the next generation, by bringing in young talent such as George Fox and Venetia Campbell. This ensures institutional memory. Chatfeild-Roberts is the last founder of the Merlin fund-of-funds range still standing, after the retirement of Algy Smith-Maxwell in June, but the funds keep on performing well.

There is also a skill in delivering a product that people still want decades later. Oasis was the symbol of Britpop, which was the backdrop of the late 1990s, yet it still has an audience today. This is in spite of some astonishing shifts in music tastes. It is a testimony to its longevity that it can sit alongside Dua Lipa or Billie Eilish.

In the fund management world, this role might be fulfilled by a manager such as Marcus Phayre Mudge, manager of the TR Property Investment Trust, who has become the go-to manager in his sector. He has survived and thrived in a sector that has undergone enormous change. Open-ended funds have disappeared, there has been widespread disruption in the office and retail sectors, yet Phayre Mudge has navigated it successfully, delivering consistent capital gains and income for investors.

Managers such as Sue Noffke of the Schroders Income Growth Trust, or Nick Clay of the TM Redwheel Global Equity Income fund, are also well-established pros at delivering what people want, whatever the fashion of the age. Both have stuck to their process through thick and thin, delivering what their investors expect. In Noffke’s case, she has kept delivering long-term growth in income and capital. In Clay’s case, it is a disciplined contrarian approach that he has kept with through periods when it has been extremely out of favour.

The parallels between fund managers and rock stars may not be immediately apparent, but some of the recipes for longevity are similar. While they won’t be playing Wembley Stadium any time soon, they can ensure they are still top of their game decades later.