Gartmore SICAV Latin American Fund awarded ‘AAA' rating

Gartmore is pleased to announce that the Gartmore SICAV Latin American Fund has been upgraded to the highest ‘AAA' Fund Management Rating by Standard & Poor's (S&P), one of the world's leading providers of qualitative, forward-looking fund management research reports.

The Fund is the only Emerging Markets Latin American fund to have achieved a ‘AAA' Fund Management rating after S&P's latest sector review. This rating recognises the highest standards of quality based on the fund's investment process, team's experience, control of risks and consistency of performance relative to funds with similar objectives.

The US$1.3bn Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV has been managed by Chris Palmer, Gartmore's Head of Global Emerging Markets Equities, since its launch in November 1995. The Fund's performance is ranked top decile in its peer group over five and 10 year periods and is top quartile since launch3.

Roberto de Martini, S&P Fund Research analyst for Emerging Markets commented: "Chris Palmer is one of the most experienced Latin American managers and has achieved an outstanding track record within this sector. Palmer's long experience, the solid and disciplined approach and strong performance record all point towards an upgrade to an S&P AAA rating."

Chris Palmer, Head of Global Emerging Markets, added: "We are delighted that the SICAV Latin American Fund has achieved this top rating. Over the last ten years, investors' enthusiasm for the Latin American region has been rewarded by strong returns in a period that has been difficult for equities. The benchmark for the asset class has returned over 15% in USD terms on average every year over the last decade. Our Fund has produced higher returns on that same measure. I remain as enthusiastic about the region as I was in 1995 at the Fund's inception, and I look forward to further developments and opportunities for investment in this exciting region."