BY GARY SHEPHERD
Why spend your time
trawling through various
products and timing entry
into different asset classes
when you can access a
large chunk of the global
market with just one product?
It is a loaded question,
but one which is posed by
multi-asset fund managers
such as Dennis Stattman,
team leader for BlackRock’s
Global Allocation team
based in New York.
Regardless of whether
or not you would use
multi-asset products, Stattman
is one of the most
highly respected exponents
of the art, having managed
the $14.2bn (£9.3bn) Black-
Rock Global Allocation
Fund since 1997; and the
US-domiciled version of
the fund since 1989.
In a report published
last year, Morningstar ana-
lyst Mark Laidlaw proclaimed
Stattman as having
developed a pedigree that
is “unmatched amongst his
peers”. The fund has also
been awarded the highest
Elite Morningstar qualitative
rating. High praise
indeed.
In person, Stattman
strikes you as someone
reluctant to get carried
away by any trends or with
modifications to his style
or philosophy, which he
says has not changed in 20
years. But what he does
recognise is that the techniques,
tools and the level
of skill, support and technology
that he and his
sizeable investment team
has evolved a great deal
over that time.
He recounts: “When we
wanted information when
we started the fund, we
would write to a company
for their 10-K report and if
we were in a big hurry we
might call them.
“Also, back then global
investing was really a series
of regions as opposed to
anything truly global.
Today, if you want information
you just go on the
internet and you can find
out far more in a few minutes
than you could have
in days before.
“Global investing is
around the clock from
Sunday evening US time
to late Friday afternoon
US time. We get a short
break from changing prices
in that ensuing couple of
days but we do not get
any break from changing
news events.”
l Challenging mandate
But why take on a global
mandate in the first place,
particularly when some
regions and asset classes
continue to underperform?
FUND MANAGER PROFILE DENNIS STATTMAN
The world on his shoulders
Dennis Denni Stattman is one of the most respected fund
managers mana in the US, but how does he manage to pick and
organise organ so many stock positions across a global mandate?
He explains ex all to Gary Shepherd
20
0
% -20
-40
-60
Apr ’07 Oct Apr ’08
Source: Morningstar
For example, the average
Japanese fund would have
lost you money over the
past 20 years, while most
remain bearish on prospects
for the US and
Europe, at least from a
macro viewpoint.
“The most attractive
thing about global investing
is also the most challenging;
it is the biggest
universe to choose from
and the challenge is that
there is always something
else to look at, always
something changing,”
Stattman says.
The fund has almost no
constraints, although it
does use a benchmark of
60% equities and 40% fixed
income with 60% in the US
and 40% non-US investments.
Stattman says he is
willing to deviate from this
and, if he were starting the
fund today, he admits the
benchmark would be more
like 50%/50% the US and
BGF Global Allocation Hedge – 3-yr p’mnce
MAY 2010 [www.portfolio-adviser.com] PORTFOLIO ADVISER
Oct
BGF Glbl Alloc
Hedge A2 £
Apr ’09
MSCI World
Oct
Apr ’10
Global investing
is around the clock
from Sunday evening
US time to late
Friday afternoon US
time. We get a short
break from changing
prices in that ensuing
couple of days but
we do not get any
break from changing
news events
“
”
31
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.