Raging Bull Awards marks 30 years of recognising SA’s investment excellence

The Raging Bull Awards celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with South Africa’s top investment managers competing for the ultimate prize: South African Manager of the Year.

The awards will be presented in Cape Town on February 13, recognising top performers across 16 categories with certificates and seven categories with trophies, drawn from a judging universe of more than 1 000 funds.

“It’s wonderful to be involved in Raging Bull again, really the Oscars of asset managers. To be among the country’s most successful, influential, and prominent investment managers making waves domestically and abroad is a true honour, and I look forward to hosting this prestigious event,” says Lance Witten, Master of Ceremonies and iol.co.za Editor.

What the awards recognise

The awards’ rich history celebrates investment managers that display consistent, risk-adjusted performance across multiple funds, clear and disciplined investment processes, effective management through volatile markets, and – increasingly – the ability of both large and boutique firms to demonstrate enduring strength across their fund suites.

Personal Finance Editor, Dieketseng Maleke, says “these awards remain a powerful testament to sustained excellence, fresh thinking, and the calibre of results that strengthen trust among investors”.

Maleke adds that, “after 30 years, the Raging Bull Awards still set the standard for distinction in asset management, with this year’s recipients representing the very best of that tradition”.

Beyond short-term gains

The awards are based on certificates for straight performance over three years (ending December 2024) across 16 categories, and trophies for the best risk-adjusted performance over five years across eight categories.

Winners are determined using data supplied by Iress and Apex, applying the Sortino methodology. The Sortino Ratio, a refinement of the Sharpe Ratio developed in the 1960s by US economist William F Sharpe, considers only downside deviation from the mean, which negatively impacts returns, unlike upside deviation.

“The Raging Bull awards are the benchmark for excellence in the industry, and being able to contribute to deserved recognition of this year’s winner is an honour,” says Iress.

“The awards are designed to recognise consistent, long-term performance and sound risk management rather than just short-term, fortunate spikes in performance,” says Maleke.

A history of excellence

The awards have consistently highlighted investment culture and team depth alongside process – notably Fairtree’s emphasis on values like integrity and excellence as part of its approach.

In 2020, the Momentum Enhanced Yield Fund, managed by Zisanda Gila and Kgothatso Moremedi, was awarded the Best South African Interest-Bearing Short-Term Fund.

Ian Scott, head of fixed income at Momentum Investments, says that receiving this award highlights the value of taking a long-term investment view. “This recognition illustrates that even though our philosophy focuses on client goals – usually longer term than those of the typical benchmarks – our funds also perform when compared to other funds.”

Consistency through crisis

During the COVID-19 years, Ninety One won back-to-back awards in 2021 and 2022 because of its consistency through market volatility. Several past winners, including Ninety One and PSG, have acknowledged that sticking to their core investment strategies during the pandemic was key to their success.

Ninety One’s win was due to the overall risk-adjusted performance of its qualifying unit trust funds to the end of 2021.

In 2023, PSG Asset Management was named Manager of the Year, overtaking the previous long-time winner Ninety One.

The manager, headed by CEO Anet Ahern, also took home several fund-specific awards. The PSG Diversified Income fund won the best South African multi-asset income fund award for straight performance over three years. In addition, the PSG Income fund was the best South African interest-bearing short-term income fund based on five-year risk-adjusted performance.

Boutiques challenge the giants

At the 2024 awards, Fairtree Asset Management took the top honour, highlighting the rise of smaller, boutique managers challenging larger firms.

On winning the award, the company said it served “as a testament to our ongoing commitment to investment excellence and the trusted partnerships we’ve built with our clients. We are honoured to receive this recognition, and we thank our clients for the trust they place in us every day.”

Prior years have also seen smaller specialised managers, such as Mi-Plan and Fairtree, outperforming their bigger counterparts in risk-adjusted terms.

Most recently, Citadel Investment Services won South African Manager of the Year in 2024 (presented in early 2025) for the first time, beating runner-up Nedgroup Investments.

Reflecting back on winning the award, chief investment officer, George Herman, highlights Citadel’s philosophy of tuning out short-term market noise. “We look beyond immediate cycles. Our role is to stay invested in our long-term strategy, which gives us stability in an increasingly volatile world.”

CEO Andrew Möller says the accolade validated a client-centric culture that has always placed people at the centre of their decision making: “Our reputation for professionalism and prioritising clients is our greatest competitive advantage.”

Citadel focuses on consistency, resilience, and seizing opportunities created by volatility, rather than being blindsided by it, the company says. This stability, combined with a deeply considered approach to risk-adjusted returns, distinguished them in a complex investment environment, Citadel notes.

The Awards will be sponsored by the JSE and DRDGOLD. The keynote address will be delivered by Dr Leila Fourie, Group CEO of the JSE, while DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius will also feature on the programme.

PERSONAL FINANCE