OBSR has handed its Rising Talent award to Jupiter’s Cédric de Fonclare, manager of the European Special Situations fund.
The Rising Talent award, presented at a ceremony last night, is given to a manager who has established a position in the market and has the potential to achieve strong and consistent long-term returns.
OBSR research director Richard Romer-Lee says de Fonclare has delivered a strong performance in difficult markets.
"Cédric de Fonclare started running money in 2003 and followed in some pretty big footsteps at Jupiter," he says.
"He has already established himself as not only a great stockpicker, but also as someone who has made sense of the macro picture.
"Cédric has performed well in difficult markets and dealt with the pressures of taking over a fund from such a high profile name as Leon Howard-Spink."
De Fonclare says he takes a flexible approach to stock selection.
"I have a stockpicking approach, but it is also influenced by top-down considerations. If I were to weigh the influence of these factors I would say stockpicking accounts for 70%," he says.
"The top-down element helps me in two ways. It helps direct my search for new opportunities and beyond that it tells me the upside potential of any stocks as I might want in my fund.
"It is this flexibility of approach which allows me to play volatile trade conditions."
The manager has positioned the majority of his portfolio in core European countries, particularly Switzerland and Germany, and companies with exposure to overseas earnings.
"From a style point of view, I have been targeting more international businesses because of low growth. Even though some domestic companies have done well, I am concerned they could be a value trap and also about political interference."
De Fonclare expects fears of double dip recession to increase as the year progresses, but sees this as an opportunity.
"I will look to take on more risk at the end of the year as fears of a double dip grow," he says.
"There will be a concerted effort by policy makers to prevent a double dip; we have seen the ECB's willingness to take action by keeping rates low and buying back bonds from financial institutions."
