The funds are the Bennelong Australian Equities Fund, the Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund, the Bennelong ex-20 Australian Equities Fund and the Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund.
All four funds are run by BAEP’s single investment team, based on a similar active management, long-only equities strategy that uses a fundamental and bottom-up investment process.
BAEP was founded in 2008 by Mark East in partnership with Bennelong Funds Management.
In its reports for each of the funds, Lonsec said: “This rating reflects Lonsec’s high regard and increased conviction for the experience and calibre of Portfolio Manager and CIO, Mark East, as well as the robust and logical investment process and supportive ‘boutique-with-backing’ ownership structure, which ensures a strong alignment of the investment team.
“Notably, the Fund has delivered an impressive long-term track record of outperformance relative to the benchmark and its peers and has successfully met its investment objective over all assessed time periods.”
It also said: “The Manager adopts a comprehensive stock research process with the key drivers being extensive industry and value chain (competitors, suppliers, customers, regulators) analysis supported by a well- resourced company visitation program.
“Lonsec draws significant comfort from the research process, considering it to be comprehensive and able to identify quality stocks.”
The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund has returned 18.01% over one year, 15.54% p.a. over 3 years, 14.20% p.a. over 5 years and 13.97% p.a. since inception (figures as at 31 August 2020, inception date is 20 January 2009). All four funds are available on multiple platforms, with the Concentrated Fund recently being added to the North platform.
The Lonsec Ratings (assigned as follows: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund – August 2020; Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund – August 2020; Bennelong ex-20 Australian Equities Fund – August 2020; Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund – August 2020) presented in this document are published by Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421445. The Ratings are limited to “General Advice” (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)) and based solely on consideration of the investment merits of the financial products. Past performance information is for illustrative purposes only and is not indicative of future performance. They are not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold Bennelong Australian Equity Partners’ products, and you should seek independent financial advice before investing in these products. The Ratings are subject to change without notice and Lonsec assumes no obligation to update the relevant documents following publication. Lonsec receives a fee from the Fund Manager for researching the products using comprehensive and objective criteria. For further information regarding Lonsec’s Ratings methodology, please refer to our website at: http://www.lonsecresearch.com.au/research-solutions/our-ratings