News

Zenith Investment Partners today announced the winners of their annual Fund Awards in an online presentation to the industry. Recognising excellence in funds management across major asset classes and disciplines, the awards acknowledged winners in 22 categories across the sector including Responsible Investments, the Rising Star and the pinnacle of the award categories, Fund Manager of the Year.

Pendal was announced as 2020’s Fund Manager of the Year, also taking home a win in the Australian Fixed Interest category and nominations in the Multi Asset Diversified and Responsible Investments categories. Zenith highlighted the high quality of their product suite, consistency of ratings over time and their high regard for Pendal’s investment team as key drivers for this award.

“We’re thrilled to see a business the quality of Pendal take out this year’s Fund Manager of the Year award,” said David Wright, Zenith CEO. “The business has strong leadership from Emilio Gonzalez and Richard Brandweiner, enabling the experienced investment team to focus on doing what it does best, deliver results to its investors. Their engagement with Zenith, our clients and the market is excellent and they’re truly a deserving winner this year. Our congratulations to Richard and the team.”

The Distributor of the Year was awarded to Fidante Partners, with Zenith acknowledging Fidante’s success in a part of the sector that’s highly competitive but fulfils a very important function. The quality of Fidante’s boutiques and their ratings across the product suite, growing FUM flows, excellence in reporting and the quality of their adviser support were highlighted as the key drivers for this important award.

Highly regarded and respected investment professional, Anne Anderson, Managing Director of UBS Asset Management (Australia) and Head of Fixed Income and Investment Solutions - Australia, was announced as the winner of the Industry Contribution Award.

Bronwen Moncrieff, Zenith GM and Head of Research, said “Anne has made an outstanding, long-term contribution to the investment industry, and has been a senior member of one of the country’s leading fixed income teams for many years. Her work ethic, openness and willingness to innovate and take on new challenges has seen her succeed in her various roles. Anne has also pioneered the way for young women to forge successful careers and leadership positions in an industry that, particularly in the early years, was very male dominated. We’re thrilled to present this award to someone of Anne’s calibre and standing in the industry.”

Each finalist in the Zenith Fund Awards is a leader in their field and has displayed investment excellence across both qualitative and quantitative criteria over the last 12 months. The awards are informed by the group’s leading internal research team, which has been delivering quality research and insights to the industry for nearly two decades.

David Wright, Zenith CEO, congratulated all finalists and winners for their outstanding achievements in a difficult year and their ongoing contribution to the success of the industry.

“Despite the obvious challenges of operating within markets over the last 8-9 months, we’ve seen many managers continue to adapt and thrive to deliver better outcomes to their investors, which is a credit to the industry. Our long-established fund research role is one we take very seriously and identifying industry best practice within quality fund managers has never been more important,” he said.