It will be their first live appearance since they split in 2009 and the tickets sold out in a matter of hours. It goes to show that there are some 90s legends who can still draw a crowd.
The build up has been remarkably incident-free, suggesting that the warring Gallagher brothers may have mellowed over the years.
When Noel Gallagher was asked for some words of wisdom for his 25-year old self, he said: “Everything’s gonna be fine. Stay optimistic. If there’s dark clouds coming, they’ll leave again. They always do.” With experience (and age) comes equanimity.
Fund managers don’t have a lot in common with these Britpop stars, preferring the glare of a Bloomberg terminal to a Glastonbury crowd, but they also build equanimity over time. This is important. It helps them respond rationally when markets have lost their cool. It also gives them the confidence to go against the herd when they believe it has lost touch with reality.
There are plenty of legendary fund managers who began their careers in the 1990s and have developed a calm head over time. These are fund managers such as John Chatfeild-Roberts, head of the Merlin independent funds team at Jupiter, which manages the Jupiter Merlin Growth and Jupiter Merlin Income portfolios. He began his career in 1990, the year before Oasis formed. That makes him one of the most experienced fund selectors in the business. He’s even written a book summarising his philosophy – Fundology.
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This experience proved important when he swerved the crisis at Woodford Investment Management, recognising early that performance was starting to flag, and Woodford himself may have been overstretched in his roles as investor and business owner. Having been an early supporter, he exited the group’s fund in 2015. The Woodford fund went on to suffer significant poor performance before the group finally folded in 2019.
‘You gotta roll with it’
This ability to stand aside from the market view has also been important for another 1990s superstar, Richard Woolnough, manager of the M&G Optimal Income and Corporate Bond funds. It alerted him to the problems building in the banking sector ahead of the financial crisis in the 2000s.
He did not invest in bank bonds, in spite of their large weighting in the index, and warned investors of the dangers of Collateralised Loan Obligations and mortgage-backed securities. It was these products that proved so destabilising for the global financial system. Woolnough spared his investors the worst of the crisis and cemented his reputation.
Like Oasis, Woolnough is currently going through a renaissance. His Optimal Income fund has delivered almost double the average of its peer group over the past five years. It has outpaced the wider IA Sterling Strategic Bond sector in four out of the five calendar years.
‘UK has been wildly out of favour’
As a UK-focused value manager, Simon Gergel, manager of Allianz UK Listed Opportunities, has had to take these words to heart more than most. He is looking for undervalued companies in the UK. The UK has been wildly out of favour, and the type of companies he invests in have been particularly unfashionable.
He has built a strong performance record over time, but the road he’s walked has undoubtedly been winding. It may take the market some time to catch up to his way of thinking, but the rewards can be significant. He says: “By maintaining a disciplined, independent mindset and challenging consensus beliefs, the value investor can take a contrarian view to identify situations where share prices have become detached from fundamentals and invest in undervalued assets that have the potential to shine brightly in the long run.” Is that the start of another Oasis song?
And just in case you’re worried that these rockers may eventually run out of enthusiasm for the grand tours, they have all built capable teams around them. For Simon Gergel, it is Richard Knight. The pair has worked together since 2018. John Chatfeild-Roberts is part of a team of seven, including Amanda Sillars and George Fox. At M&G, Richard Woolnough can call on one of the most experienced teams in the business, with multi-disciplinary expertise. Just as Liam and Noel are capable frontmen, they need a good support network to make the magic happen.
So don’t look back in anger (sorry) if you haven’t invested in these 90s superstars yet. Not only has their experience brought skill and wisdom, they’ve also created a new generation of investors to carry on their work. They should have plenty of grand tours ahead.
Darius McDermott is managing director of FundCalibre and Chelsea Financial Services
