Service Providers

  • Founded in 1973 by its namesake Dr. Allan Gray.
  • Allan Gray partner with Orbis, founded by Dr. Gray.
  • Orbis act as Allan Gray’s foreign fund managers.
  • Allan Gray and Orbis have the same investment philosophy and values.
  • Investment philosophy is value-orientated:
    ◦ Research companies to determine what they are worth.
    ◦ Buy shares they believe are undervalued by the market.
    ◦ Sell them when they think they have reached their worth.
  • Independent minded.
  • Has a retail investment platform:
    ◦ Provides access to a focused range of unit trusts from Allan Gray and other investment managers
    ◦ Simplified administration
  • Founded in 1993 by a small group of investment professionals.
  • Publicly listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2003.
  • First SA asset manager to gain GIPS compliance.
  • GIPS = Global Investment Performance Standards
  • The culture remains one of ownership and accountability.
  • Evident by the fact that staff owns 25% of the holding company.
  • A single “valuation driven”philosophy”.
  • The investment team consists of 3 former Coronation CIOs.
  • All analysts rotate among industries so as to become generalists.
  • Extensive experience and capabilities across all asset classes.
  • Their motto: “Trust is earned”.
  • Dave Foord co-founded Foord Asset Management in 1981 with Liston Meintjes.
  • Liston left in 1997. Dave remains central.
  • The bulk of the ownership is in the hands of the investment team.
  • Their investment philosophy:
    ◦ Get the big calls right. Take advantage of economic cycles.
    ◦ Buy at the right price.
    ◦ Take a long-term view and be patient.
    ◦ Ignore the benchmark when building portfolios.
    ◦ Diversify and manage risk.
  • Significant understanding of asset management. It’s their entire focus.
  • Foord has a dedicated offshore team in Singapore.
  • Founded in 1994.
  • A subsidiary of UK based M&G Investments, the investment business of Prudential plc, a London listed global financial services entity.
  • Thus has the support of a significant global group.
  • But with a strong measure of independence. Prudential staff are material  shareholders in the business.
  • Their investment philosophy:
    ◦ Valuation-based:
       Buy when an asset’s valuation is below its long-term fair value. Sell once it reaches fair value.
    ◦ Decisions based on known facts. Don’t try to forecast the future.
    ◦ Focus on the long term. Ignore short-term “noise”.
    ◦ Team-based approach. Buy and sell decisions made collectively.
  • Wally Gray founded Rezco in 1981 with a deliberate focus: 
    ◦ “Managing risk, creating wealth” – Rezco’s deeply rooted philosophy.
  • Started as a private client wealth manager.
  • Refocused in 1984 to offer unit trust services.
  • Their investment philosophy combines:
    ◦ best aspects of value investing
    ◦ superior sustainable earnings growth
    ◦ primary trend analysis and
    ◦ measured market timing.
  • Rezco’s edge is their ability to implement a high conviction portfolio.
  • Aims to have a minimum of 3% of a portfolio in any one share.
  • Provides Risk Tolerance profiling to pinpoint your natural tolerance for risk.
  • Helps you understand your financial self and financial risk better.
  • Uses a psychometric questionnaire.
  • Psychometrics blends psychology and statistics. It is the scientific discipline for testing personal characteristics such as risk tolerance.
  • The FinaMetrica risk tolerance profile exceeds international standards for validity and reliability.
  • Launched in 1998.
  • Developed and tested in Australia over four years with the assistance of the University of New South Wales’s Applied Psychology Unit.
  • Maintained with expertise from the London School of Economics.
  • Best “Risk Profiling Solution” – Family Wealth Report Awards 2014
  • Best “Risk Profiling Solution” – WealthBriefingAsia Awards 2014
  • Over 1 0 00 000 FinaMetrica risk tolerance profiles by 1 000s of financial advisers in over 20 countries.
  • MyFLPTools™ is a one-stop resource for my client conversation and planning tools.
  • Designed by Mitch Anthony who is the founder and president of Advisor Insights and the Financial Life Planning Institute.
  • This institute is the leading provider of financial life planning tools and programs for the financial services industry.
  • Mitch lives in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
  • MyFLPTools™ allows me to do profound discovery work with my clients.
  • It captures each client’s unique story: past, present and future.
  • It’s an interactive website. Designed to help understand you and your needs better.
  • And to help you move your stories along.
  • Overall it helps to deepen my relationship with clients.
  • Mitch designed the Return on Life™ philosophy to help you live the best life with the money you have.
  • He is the author of 14 books including my favourites:
    ◦ StorySelling for Financial Advisors
    ◦ Your Clients For Life
    ◦ Making the Client Connection
    ◦ The New Retirementality    
  • A fund research and ratings provider based in the UK and SA.
  • Independent, owner managed financial services group.
  • Each team member has many years fund management businesses experience.
  • Use a unique Fundhouse approach.
  • Focus on the prospects of a fund manager continuing to perform well.
  • Aim to understand the factors which drive investment success.
  • Considers 4 factors when rating a fund:
    1. Parent company that offers the fund
    2. Quality of the investment team
    3. Investment process
    4. Past investment decisions or major investment calls.
  • Best “Ratings and research service” 2016 – Investment Week
  • Best “Independent research” 2016 – Investment Week
  • Best “Ratings and research service for advisers” – 2017 Professional Adviser Rewards.
  • Cover more than 100 fund management companies and 200 investment processes globally.
  • Is a boutique investment business with a focused product range.
  • Walter Aylett founded the business in 2005 after he left Coronation.
  • The business focuses on the retail market through long-only funds.
  • Across both equities and multi-asset funds.
  • Aylett & Co. is 100% staff owned.
  • Investment philosophy:
    ◦ Their edge is their mindset around risk management and downside protection.
    ◦ Identify good quality businesses first and, secondly, look for mispricing.
    ◦ Manage risk by not overpaying for an investment.
    ◦ Thus, include a margin of safety when making investments.
    ◦ Bottom-up in thinking, looking at assets rather than the economy.
    ◦ Risk is the Permanent Loss of Capital. Focus is to avoid it. 
  • Nedgroup Investments has been operating in its current form since 2003.
  • It is one of the leading retail management companies in SA.
  • And has a credible local and offshore offering.
  • It was formed out of the consolidation of a number of asset- and wealth managers.

  • The active management side of the business follows a “best of breed” approach.
  • They issue exclusive single manager mandates to their various funds in the range.

  • For the Core range of funds Nedgroup has responsibility for the investment strategy.
  • The strategy is implemented by Taquanta – a specialist quantitative passive fund manager.
  • The offshore component is outsourced to Blackrock.
  • The core range resides outside of the “Best of Breed” range.
  • It is intended as a compliment.
  • And also Nedgroup’s way in which to appease clients seeking low-cost alternatives.
  • Prescient was founded by Herman Steyn and Guy Toms in 1998.
  • Herman focussed on managing the business up to his retirement in 2018.
  • Guy’s focus has been on investments. A highly experienced income investor.
  • He is the key portfolio manager of the Prescient Income Provider Fund.
  • Prescient has its roots in South African fixed income.
  • Later branched out into (quantitative) equities, asset allocation and global investing.
  • It established a team in China and more recently the United Kingdom.
  • The broader group also provides fund services, private wealth management, stockbroking.
  • It is also management company (manco).
  • Prescient was listed in 2012.
  • Delisted in 2017 when Stellar took a significant ownership stake.
  • Stellar has since sold their stake to Thabo Dloti (Sithega Holdings) who now sits on the board.
  • Is an independent boutique investment business, founded in 1987.
  • Was acquired by Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG) in 2005.
  • OMIG is the majority shareholder. Marriott’s senior staff holds the remainder of the shares.   

  • But Marriott remains independent:
    ◦ They operate in a separate location, Hillcrest in Durban.
    ◦ Retaining all of their administration in house.
    ◦ They run the business themselves and focus on their products.
    ◦ With the support of the broader group should they need it, a big positive.

  • Investment philosophy:
    ◦ The business is unique in the South African market.
    ◦ Their focus is on generating sustainable and high levels of income for investors.
    ◦ Select assets that produce reliable income streams, ideally growing.
    ◦ Purchase these assets (and their income streams) at reasonable prices.
    ◦ Buy when the income yield is above the long term average.
    ◦ These enables Marriott to give an investor a more predictable investment outcome.
  • Sasfin Wealth is part of the Sasfin Group which listed on the JSE in 1987.
  • Sasfin today comprises Sasfin Bank, Sasfin Wealth and Sasfin Capital.
  • In 2002 the Group acquired Frankel Pollak Securities which forms the base of Sasfin Wealth.  
  • Sasfin Wealth includes Sasfin Asset Managers – a leading boutique asset manager.
  • It offers a range of equity, income and multi-asset class funds.
  • Independent and highly protective of the preservation and growth of their clients’ capital.
  • The investment team includes some of South Africa’s most highly-regarded fund managers.
  • They have close partnerships with leading global research houses.
  • The team has developed a sound investment philosophy.
  • It combines fundamental research with focused analysis of global macroeconomic trends.
  • Sasfin Asset Managers won several Raging Bull and Morningstar awards for its performance.
  • A Raging Bull award is made on the basis of risk-adjusted performance.
  • It takes into account the consistency of performance over periods up to five years.
  • Morningstar is a worldwide investment research company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA.