ABERDEEN Asset Management has been “named and shamed” by financial advisory business Bestinvest as the UK fund manager with the highest number of poorly performing funds.
Five Aberdeen funds are listed in the latest edition of Bestinvest’s Spot the Dog report, which highlights portfolios that have underperformed their benchmark in the last three years.
This up from four in the last edition of the report and includes the £1.3 billion Aberdeen Asia Pacific Equity fund, which is run by a team led by star manager Hugh Young.
A spokesman for Aberdeen said the number of funds on the list had increased because of “performance in the second-half of last year”.
“The Trump rally impacted many of our holdings, particularly those in emerging markets,” he said. “It’s encouraging though, that all the funds are outperforming so far this year as fundamentals have returned to the fore.
“Our investment process is focused on our teams undertaking fundamental research [which] means there will be times when we do underperform?.”
Aberdeen, which is due to merge with Standard Life next month, has suffered mass outflows from its funds for the past four years, with a net £13.4 billion leaving its range in the six months to the end of March.
Outflows slowed in the second half of that period.
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