New Star balanced portfolio upgraded to ‘AA' by S&P

The latest review of the New Star Balanced Portfolio by Standard & Poor's has resulted in a rating upgrade to ‘AA' for the fund. The S&P review and consequent adjustment recognised the consistent performance of the New Star Balanced Portfolio.

Since Mark Harris and Craig Heron assumed management of the fund in January 2002, the fund has returned 59.1% compared to a 37.9% return for the IMA Balanced Managed sector and is ranked in the first quartile over the same period.

Standard & Poor's commented on the fund: "Returns relative to the peer group median have generally been strong, demonstrating the overall success of the process and timeliness of decision making. Given the success achieved, the stability of the core team of managers and the reasonably established process, the fund merits an S&P AA rating."

Richard Wilson, marketing director, New Star, said: "This latest rating is a reflection of the excellent performance achieved by the New Star fund of funds team, whose achievements resulted in New Star recently being named ‘Best Multi-Manager Group' at the 2008 Professional Adviser Awards. The S&P rating is testament to the team's skill at identifying and blending a mixture of high-quality funds within a risk-controlled environment."