Momentum, Old Mutual, and Sanlam global equity funds compared
Old Mutual’s global equity fund outperformed similar funds managed by Momentum and Sanlam – but all three underperformed their benchmarks over five years.
These funds offer South African investors exposure to foreign equities through professionally managed funds.
Offshore equity funds hold assets denominated in foreign currency, typically the US dollar. This means investors benefit from equity growth and the rand’s depreciation to foreign currencies.
This is one of the reasons why global equity funds often outperform funds that own South African equity.
Momentum and Sanlam said that the global equity funds have high-risk profiles, and Old Mutual placed its fund in the moderate to high-risk category.
The funds have also underperformed the benchmarks that the fund managers compare the fund’s performance to over five years.
The Old Mutual global equity fund is the largest of the three funds, with R25.4 billion under management. Momentum’s global equity fund size is R1.29 billion, and Sanlam’s fund has R733 million under management.
Old Mutual
The Old Mutual fund aims to deliver good returns by investing in shares of companies in developed countries.
Over five years, the fund has delivered an annualised return of 15.1% per year. The fund benchmark, the MSCI world index, returned 17.4% over the same period.
However, the global equity fund performed better than its benchmark over the last year.
Here are the top five holdings of the fund and the percentage of the total portfolio that the shares constitute.
| Holding | Percentage of portfolio |
| Apple | 3.7% |
| Microsoft | 2.8% |
| Amazon | 1.3% |
| Visa | 1.2% |
| United Healthcare | 1.1% |
Momentum
The Momentum global growth feeder fund offers investors protection against rand depreciation and the opportunity for growth in hard currency.
The fund has underperformed its benchmark by just over 5% over five years – delivering an annualised return of 11.15%. However, the fund marginally outperformed its benchmark over the last year.
The fund has lower fees than its competitors in this analysis, with a total expense ratio of 1.31%.
Here are the top five holdings of the fund and the percentage of the total portfolio that the shares constitute.
| Holding | Percentage of portfolio |
| Robeco Multi-Factor Global Equity | 26.45% |
| Morgan Stanley Global Sustain | 9.07% |
| Morant Wright Fuji Yiel | 7.76% |
| Jennison Global Equity Opportunities | 6.57% |
| Fidelity Emerging Markets | 6.14% |
Sanlam
The Sanlam global equity fund has underperformed its benchmark by over 7% over five years.
The fund identifies growing companies with competitive franchises and strong cash generation.
It also protects investors from rand depreciation.
Here are the top five holdings of the fund.
| Holding | Percentage of portfolio |
| Fiserv | 5.27% |
| SAP Stamm | 4.99% |
| British American Tobacco | 4.81% |
| Microsoft | 4.65% |
| Visa | 4.53% |
Fund performance comparison
| Fund | One year | Three years | Five Years |
| Old Mutual global equity fund | 12.7% | 16.0% | 14.1% |
| Momentum global growth feeder fund | 9.83% | 9.22% | 10.64% |
| Sanlam global equity fund | 9.37% | 9.30% | 9.69% |
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