Hargreaves adds Liontrust Special Situations to Wealth 150

Hargreaves Lansdown has added Liontrust’s Special Situations fund to its Wealth 150 list of favourite funds, in the second win this week for the £1.2bn manager.

Special Situations joins Liontrust's European Absolute Return fund, which was added to the list in mid-2009.

Liontrust also won favour this week with Skandia, which used a number of portfolios to buy a £19m stake in its Credit Absolute Return fund.

Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh, managers of Special Situations, use the Economic Advantage investment process to pick 40 to 50 companies with attributes their competitors find difficult to replicate.

The managers reason high barriers to competition such as intellectual property, good distribution networks and high recurring income should protect the leading firms' profitability.

The fund made 26.7% in the three years to 15 November, ranking it sixth of 280 in the IMA UK All Companies sector. Over five years, its 78.2% return ranks fifth of 237 .

It joins 25 other UK All Companies funds on Hargreaves' list.

Mickey Morrissey, Liontrust's head of third party distribution, said: "The Hargreaves Lansdown Wealth 150 list is a highly coveted accolade since its research team utilises a rigorous selection process based on stringent research.

"The Liontrust Special Situations fund's inclusion is testament to the robust process, the experience of the fund managers and the excellent performance of the fund."

The fund celebrates its fifth birthday this month.