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