Fundsmith Equity, which has held the title of the largest investment fund in the 海角视频 for over five years, has been surpassed by St James’s Place.
The wealth manager's Polaris 3, part of its multi-asset range, became the first in the 海角视频 to reach £30bn in assets at the end of last year, as reported by .
Fundsmith Equity has been the largest 海角视频 investment fund since March 2019, after the £19.4bn M&G Optical Income fund transferred the majority of its assets to Luxembourg as part of Brexit contingency planning.
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Although Fundsmith has since grown to £22.5bn, St James’s Place’s latest factsheet for Polaris revealed that the fund has surged past it to control £30.8bn in assets by the end of December 2024.
This is another blow for Fundsmith manager Terry Smith, following the fund's return of just 8.9 per cent in 2024, compared to 20.8 per cent for its benchmark, the MSCI World Index.
This severe underperformance follows a similar trend from previous years, underperforming its index by 4.4 percentage points in 2023, six percentage points in 2022, and 0.8 percentage points in 2021.
In contrast, Polaris 3 has grown 10.7 per cent in the last year, outperforming the wider multi-asset sector by two per cent.
However, comparisons between St James’s Place funds and the wider sector are often challenging due to the wealth manager’s all-inclusive charge that combines advice, platform and fund fees.
St James’s Place’s Polaris range
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Polaris achieved a new milestone in August by becoming the largest multi-asset fund range in the 海角视频, outpacing Vanguard's Lifestrategy funds.
Despite revelations from a City AM investigation that ISA fees for Polaris funds averaged a significant 1.63% annually—with Polaris 3 attracting a fee of 1.67%—the range still managed to take the lead.
These figures exclude an initial five percent entry charge, which is waived for existing St James’s Place clients transferring to Polaris.
"For new clients, they would receive a full initial review with their SJP adviser, which includes developing a personal financial plan that helps them build a well-diversified portfolio to achieve their long-term goals," an SJP representative stated at the time.
Even after deducting the 0.5% advice fee charged by St James’s Place, average fees across the funds remained at 1.09%. Meanwhile, Fundsmith levies a 1.04% fee, inching towards the upper limit typically charged by investment funds in the 海角视频.