Independent global investment research company Vadevalor has launched a fund manager search engine as part of its rollout to the UK funds market.

The firm has researched the many thousands of equity fund managers working in the European market and has awarded a rating to those individuals it deems to have added value over the longer term.

Successfully launched in the Spanish market, Vadevalor said it employs simple criteria in rating managers.

• A ‘AAA'-rating identifies those professionals who have outperformed their relevant benchmarks for more than 10 years since the inception of their career in managing funds. Examples of fund managers included in this category are Sharon Bentley-Hamlyn at Aubrey Capital Management and Katie Potts at Herald Investment Management.
• A ‘AA' rating identifies those who have outperformed their relevant benchmarks for more than five years since the inception of their career in managing funds. This category includes the likes of Rachel Reutter at J O Hambro Capital Management and Gerrit Smit at Stonehage Fleming.
• ‘A' rated managers will have outperformed their relevant benchmark for more than three years since the inception of their career in managing funds, and are managing a fund in excess of €50M.
• Vadevalor Talent is the designation awarded to emerging equity fund managers who have been investment directors for less than three years, or less than five years with AUM of less than €50M, and who do not currently meet the criteria for the Company's ‘AAA', ‘AA' or ‘A' ratings. Julia Angeles, Marina Record and Rose Nguyen of Baillie Gifford and James Wilson of Phoenix Asset Management are amongst the managers in this category.

Vadevalor's research is undertaken independently, with rated managers able to use the Vadevalor accreditation and logo in their marketing and distribution activities free of any charge.

Vadevalor views its ratings as both different from and complementary to other ratings awarded to UK fund managers.

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Javier Ribas Meneu said: "When we started gathering data on fund managers in Spain, of the 20 fund managers boasting the best long-term results, just four held a Morningstar 5 Star rating [which measures a fund's risk-adjusted return relative to similar funds]. That rating system, which is well-established in European markets, places greater emphasis on short-term results and is a rating awarded to the fund, not the manager.

In contrast, the Vadevalor rating is awarded to individuals and is based on performance over longer periods relative to the Fund's benchmarks, not the manager's peers. When a manager's performance is compared to the average performance of their peers, you find that more fund managers look good. Fewer managers outperform their relevant benchmarks than outperform their peers."

So impressed were they with the search engine and ratings system when launched in Spain in 2020, that leading Spanish financial services website Rankia sought an immediate collaboration with Vadevalor, creating access for more than 800,000 private investors.

The fund manager search engine is free to access at www.vadevalor.com and features fund managers working at firms based in both the UK and Spain.

Established in 2017, Vadevalor expects fund managers from all over Europe to feature by the end of the year.

Commenting on its UK rollout, co-founder and managing partner, Abhinav Premnath said, "The UK is the dominant market in European asset management, so it was a logical next step as we look to introduce the Vadevalor proposition in other domains and work towards our vision of developing a global brand, respected for its independence and objectivity, and acknowledged as generating value for its customers, workers and partners alike.

"In European markets we see far too many people buying the limited range of funds offered to them by large financial institutions, the banks, the insurance groups and others. These are often in-house products, with a disappointing performance profile. The Vadevalor fund manager search engine and ratings system is easy to use and to understand, and has been as warmly received by UK managers and professional investors as it was when we launched the platform in Spain.

It enables investors to quickly and easily identify managers who have proven their worth over the longer term, managers we have identified as amongst the very best in their chosen sector. We are excited to establish our operation in the UK, to make our data available to UK intermediaries and investors, and to play our part in enabling growing numbers to make better investment decisions."