Citadel Investment Services has been awarded South Africa's Manager of the Year at the Raging Bull Awards, showcasing its outstanding performance in the investment industry. Photographer: Armand Hough, Independent Newspapers.
Citadel Investment Services, the asset management division of the Citadel financial services group, has overcome stiff competition in South Africa’s investment industry to win the coveted South African Manager of the Year trophy at the annual Raging Bull Awards gala dinner, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Monday, February 17. The runners-up in the South African Manager of the Year race were Nedgroup Investments.
The event, sponsored this year by the JSE, recognised outstanding performance to the end of 2024 by collective investment scheme managers. For the first time, the awards included passively managed funds and ETFs. Iress and Apex were the data providers.
The guest speakers at the event were Mark Barnes, founder of Purple Group and former chief executive of the SA Post Office, and Valdene Reddy, the director of capital markets at the JSE.
Dieketseng Maleke, content editor of Personal Finance, said: “Heartiest congratulations to Citadel, which came in ahead of Nedgroup Investments in the manager ratings. Citadel and the other winners tonight have demonstrated that you are in good hands if you invest through them. Although it must always be stressed that past performance is no indicator of future performance, a manager’s track record tells you a great deal about its consistency and the quality of its processes.”
This was a first-time win for Citadel, whose top four funds across the eight five-year risk-adjusted categories performed best overall. The company’s top-performing funds, which operate under a H4 Collective Investments licence, were the Citadel Worldwide Flexible H4 Fund, the H4 Diversified Fund, the Citadel SA Multi-Factor Equity H4 Fund, and the Citadel SA Bond H4 Fund.
Citadel Wealth Management was founded in 1993. Over the years it expanded from an advisory practice into a multi-faceted financial services group and currently holds R106 billion in assets under management. Headquartered in Claremont, Cape Town, the group has local offices in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga and an offshore presence in Guernsey.
The other awards at the event were fund-specific: 16 certificates for straight performance over three years in specialised categories related to the Association for Savings and Investment SA classification system and eight trophies in broader categories for risk-adjusted performance over five years, all to the end of 2024.
A stand-out among the awards for individual funds was the Investec BCI Dynamic Equity Fund, which won Best SA Equity General Fund for risk-adjusted performance for the third year in a row.
Maleke said the main objective of the annual awards was to guide investors to funds that deliver superior, reliable returns. “This aligns with the ongoing aim at Personal Finance – to provide readers with credible, accessible information on financial services and products to better manage their day-to-day financial affairs and grow their wealth,” she said.
AWARD-WINNING FUNDS AND MANAGERS
CERTIFICATES: FOR STRAIGHT PERFORMANCE
OVER THREE YEARS TO 31 DECEMBER, 2024
Best SA Equity General Fund
Fairtree Select Equity Prescient Fund
Best SA Equity Small and Medium Cap Fund
Coronation Smaller Companies Fund
SA Multi-Asset High Equity Fund
Granate BCI Balanced Fund
Best SA Multi-Asset Medium Equity Fund
Nedgroup Investments Opportunity Fund
Best SA Multi-Asset Low Equity Fund
Camissa Stable Fund
Best SA Multi-Asset Flexible Fund
Granate BCI Flexible Fund
Best SA Multi-Asset Income Fund
PortfolioMetrix BCI Dynamic Income Fund
Best SA Interest-Bearing Variable-Term Fund
M&G Bond Fund
Best SA Interest-Bearing Short-Term Fund
Truffle SCI Income Plus Fund
Best SA Real Estate Fund
M&G Property Fund
Best Worldwide Equity General Fund
Nest Egg BCI Worldwide Equity Fund
Best Worldwide Multi-Asset Flexible Fund
Blue Quadrant Worldwide Flexible Prescient Fund
Best Global Equity General Fund
Sygnia FANG.AI Equity Fund
Best Global Multi-Asset High Equity Fund
Allan Gray-Orbis Global Balanced Feeder Fund
Best Global Multi-Asset Flexible Fund
Global Marathon IP Fund
Best Global Real Estate Fund
Oasis Crescent International Property Equity Feeder Fund
TROPHIES: FOR RISK-ADJUSTED PERFORMANCE
OVER FIVE YEARS TO 31 DECEMBER, 2024
Best SA Equity General Fund
Investec BCI Dynamic Equity Fund
Best SA Multi-Asset Fund
Visio BCI Actinio Fund
Best SA Interest-Bearing Fund
Terebinth SCI Enhanced Income Fund
Best Worldwide Fund
Blue Quadrant Worldwide Flexible Prescient Fund
Best Global Equity Fund
PSG Global Equity Feeder Fund
Best Global Multi-Asset Fund
Global Marathon IP Fund
Best Global Interest-Bearing Fund
M&G Global Bond Feeder Fund
Best Real Estate Fund
Harvard House BCI Property Fund
TROPHY: SOUTH AFRICAN MANAGER OF THE YEAR
FOR FIVE-YEAR PERFORMANCE TO 31 DECEMBER 2024
Citadel Investment Services
Runner-up (certificate)
Nedgroup Investments
PERSONAL FINANCE