Products launched by boutique fund management houses dominated the most bought funds list on Hargreaves Lansdown’s platform in 2017.
Funds run by Richard Pease, Terry Smith, Nick Train, and Neil Woodford were among the most popular with clients of the platform.
All four managers are City veterans, who each left big companies to set up their own businesses.
Hargreaves Lansdown provided the top ten most bought in alphabetical order.
Mr Pease runs the £2.1bn Crux European Special Situations fund, which has returned 79 per cent over the past five years to 1 March, compared with 65 per cent for the average fund in the sector in the same time period.
He is currently engaged in a legal dispute with his previous employer, Janus Henderson, about the terms of his exit.
Terry Smith is a former banks analyst, and stockbroker who ran brokerage firm Tullet Prebon, and launched the Fundsmith Equity fund in 2010.
It now has assets of over £13bn, and is the second best performer from 149 funds in the IA Global sector over the past five years to 1 March.
In that time, Mr Smith’s fund has returned 139 per cent, compared with 64 per cent for the sector average.
Mr Train is a former head of global equities at M&G, before setting up Lindsell Train in 2000.
He runs the £4.7bn Lindsell Train UK Equity fund, which has returned 82 per cent over the past five years to 1 March, compared with 47 per cent for the average fund in the IA UK All Companies sector in the same time period.
Another of his funds, Lindsell Train Global Global Equity, which has assets of £3.9bn, is also among the top ten most bought by Hargreaves clients.
This fund is ranked third best from 300 funds in the IA Global sector over the past five years.
Neil Woodford left his role as fund manager at Invesco Perpetual in 2014.
However he has so far struggled to replicate the strong success at the fund giant, having endured a torrid time in performance terms over the past year, with the fund losing 9 per cent. It has shrunk in size from £10bn to £7bn in that time.
Two of Hargreaves Lansdown’s own funds, the HL Multi-Manager Special Situations Trust, and HL Select UK Income Shares, are also among the top ten most bought, alongside the Jupiter India fund, the Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders, and Marlborough UK MicroCap Growth fund.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
