Branson's All-Share SG Asset challenge foiled

By Jenne Mannion Virgin's Richard Branson, champion of the tracker fund, has lost a bet made with...

By Jenne Mannion Virgin's Richard Branson, champion of the tracker fund, has lost a bet made with Nicola Horlick three years ago that her fund group SG Asset Management's UK Growth fund could not outperform the All-Share by 2% each year over three years. Branson's Virgin Direct is a major provider of index tracker funds. He challenged Horlick that the then-new UK Growth fund, launched on 18 March 1998 and managed by Peter Seabrook, would not be able to fulfil its objective of achieving 2% outperformance of the index. Three years later, to 16 March 2001, the SG UK Growth fund was up 11.8%...