Standard & Poor's Fund Services (S&P) has upgraded five funds after a review of the multi-asset and diversified multi-manager sector.
The research house upgraded five funds - HFA International Shares, JANA Triplepoint Fund Wholesale, Select Alternatives Portfolio, Certitude Asian Opportunities and PM Capital Enhanced Yield (including the BT Financial Group badged version of the fund) - from three to four stars.
S&P withdrew the ratings on the previously four-star-rated BlackRock Global Allocation Australia Fund (class S units) at the request of the manager.
"In this review, we upgraded five funds to four stars from three stars due to product advantages, risk-management improvements, and/or extended track records that have led to our higher conviction in these offerings relative to peer funds," S&P analyst Michael Armitage said.
"We did not downgrade any funds as part of the review."
Major themes of this year's review were manager transparency and the liquidity of underlying investments of multiple manager products, Armitage said.
"Offerings that give investors efficient terms benefited from our increased conviction," he said.
The research house also issued two new ratings to fund of hedge funds Dexia Alpha Dynamic and HSBC GH Diversified Strategy.
Both funds were rated three stars.
