S&P Capital IQ Fund Research has assigned a Silver fund grading to Hawksmoor Vanbrugh Fund, a fund of open-ended funds and investment trusts managed by Hawksmoor Investment Management.

Its managers - Richard Scott and Daniel Lockyer - are experienced in the analysis of investment trusts and looking at them relative to open-ended funds.

Hawksmoor Investment Management was founded by chief executive John Crowley (pictured) shortly before Scott joined as chief investment officer in June 2008. It has three main lines of business: retail funds, private client fund management and providing model portfolios to IFAs and platforms. At end-March 2012, assets under management totalled GBP170m.

The fund aims to maximise real long-term returns from a medium-risk multi-asset portfolio invested in open-ended funds and investment trusts. The managers emphasise margin of safety, typically looking for a significant discount to NAV from an investment trust.

The approach is a mix of top-down asset allocation and bottom-up fund selection. While there is no formal benchmark, the managers aim to run the fund in accordance with the rules of the IMA mixed investment 20-60 peer group. Equities exposure is thus capped at 60 per cent. Non-sterling exposure can be significant, although the combined exposure to sterling and the euro will be maintained above 50 per cent in accordance with the rules of the IMA Mixed Investment 20-60 per cent.

There are few hard portfolio construction rules. Typically, the portfolio has around 40 holdings, with smaller weightings in more volatile and higher-beta funds.

“We also took into account the performance of the Exeter Global opportunities fund, which Richard Scott managed for seven years (amongst other products). While it did not have the flexibility of the Vanbrugh fund, its top-decile performance against the peer group under Scott’s tenure allowed us to assess the team’s track record. This, and the managers' experience lead us to give the fund an S&P Capital IQ Silver grading,” says Randal Goldmith, fund analyst at S&P Capital IQ.
 
Crowley says: “We are delighted that S&P Capital IQ has awarded our Vanbrugh Fund its prestigious Silver grading. This grading is a positive endorsement of the co-ordinated investment process that lies behind all our investment mandates – funds, bespoke discretionary portfolios and risk-based model portfolios on platforms. We believe S&P Capital IQ's award will enhance the growing awareness and confidence in the marketplace of the quality of Hawksmoor’s funds and services.”