On 10^th June 2015, and following The Adviser Centre Monthly Review Meeting on 28^th May 2015, Baillie Gifford Japanese was added to The Adviser Centre as a Recommended fund.

The fund is co-managed by Sarah Whitley and Matthew Brett.  Ms Whitley is an extremely experienced Japanese investor, joining the firm in 1980 and becoming Head of the Japanese Equities Investment Team in 2001.  Mr Brett joined her as co-manager in 2008.

The team believes that fundamental, proprietary research combined with a long-term mindset are the key ingredients for investment success.  Their investment style is growth-orientated and their basic premise is that companies that generate high quality earnings and have strong competitive franchises are often under-appreciated by the market.  In generating ideas for the fund, the team works in a highly collegiate fashion, using a structured approach to conducting research around various themes.

It is important to be aware that fund positioning can deviate meaningfully from the benchmark, given that the portfolio is reasonably concentrated and managed with low turnover.  Indeed, the team views risk from the perspective of the risk of misunderstanding their investments, rather than the risk of being different from the index. To ensure diversification of underlying businesses, companies selected for the portfolio fall into one of four generic categories - secular growth, growth stalwarts, special situations and cyclical growth.

We are pleased to add this fund, with its long-established and disciplined growth-focused approach, to our Recommended list.

Within The Adviser Centre, we feature the fund in our “Larger-Cap, Growth” category.  At present, we feature five funds from the IA Japan sector within The Adviser Centre, covering the categories of:

• Larger-Cap, Blend
• Larger-Cap, Growth
• Larger-Cap, Value
• Smaller-Cap, Growth. 

Please see our IA Sector Overview for the Japan sector for further details.