S&P downgrades high profile Japanese managers

Small-cap vehicles come in for specific criticism with ratings agency threatening further cuts if performance and risk controls fail to improve

Several high-profile Japanese managers have suffered downgrades in S&P's latest review of the sector, with small-cap vehicles coming in for particular criticism. With the median smaller companies fund losing 10% over 12 months to the end of March, the ratings agency said more cuts lie ahead if performance and risk controls do not improve. Invesco Perpetual Japan Smaller Companies suffered a rare double downgrade from AAA to A, with S&P describing manager Osamu Tokuno's performance as dire. Analyst Roy Booputh said Tokuno's underperformance came from his sticking with high-growth stocks e...