WCM has an outstanding long-term track record of global equity management. WCM’s Quality Global Growth Equity Strategy Composite has outperformed the MSCI World Index by an annualised 4.17% since its inception in 2008. Consistency of performance has been a large factor behind the firm managing assets on behalf of many of the world’s biggest pension plans including a number of large Australian superannuation funds.

WCM’s two key criteria for any company to be considered for inclusion in the Strategy are:

1. a rising competitive advantage (or expanding economic moat) and
2. a corporate culture that supports the expansion of this moat.

WCM believes the direction of a company’s economic moat is of more importance than its absolute width or size.

A key to building long-term wealth is to maximise participation in rising markets while limiting the impact of market weakness. The fund has been designed as an ‘all-weather one’ capable of strong relative performance in both up and down markets. WCM’s focus on high-quality companies with expanding moats is a proven approach for achieving this objective. This is evidenced by its WCM Quality Global Growth Equity Strategy having delivered downside capture of close to 74% since inception, meaning the portfolio has experienced on average half of the loss of the benchmark during market declines.

The portfolio holds no more than 30 – 40 companies, chosen from a universe of over 2,100. This construction results in a high conviction portfolio ensuring the investment team’s best ideas aren’t diluted by less compelling ones.

WCM’s focus on quality global stocks with expanding economic moats leads it towards high growth sectors such as technology, healthcare and consumer. For Australian investors this provides significant diversification benefits, as these sectors represent a relatively small proportion of the local market. The portfolio has a relatively low exposure to banks and basic resources, the two heavyweight sectors in the ASX.