Explaining why he was 14.18% behind his benchmark after a three-and-a-half-year period of underperformance sounds like every fund manager's worst nightmare. However, our analysis suggests that this was exactly what the average - not the bottom quartile - equity fund manager had to do regarding his performance from December 2004 to June 2008.
Our study was done using six years of data from December 2002 to December 2008. We used RisCura's Domestic Peer Group Equity (PGE) return data as a proxy for the return of the hypothetical average equity manager. RisCura calculates average return figures for the equity carve-outs of the funds that participate in the Alexander Forbes SA LARGE MANAGER WATCH™ survey. These funds represent the best investment views of the 11 largest managers of discretionary assets in South Africa.
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