Mercer investment consulting came top of the portfolio institutional investment ­consultant survey, with asset managers ­rating them top for overall understanding of their funds, fund manager due diligence and operational due diligence.
portfolio institutional anonymously surveyed 25 institutional asset managers to get an ­insight into how they viewed the research capabilities of 15 investment consultancy firms in the UK. The magazine spoke to the heads of consultant relations and heads of institutional business. The rankings of the 15 surveyed investment ­consultants can be seen in the adjacent ­tables.

see tables

Respondents were asked if each of the ­consultancies had visited them in the past twelve months. If they had, the asset ­managers then scored each of the ­consultancies from one to four, with four ­being excellent and one being poor.
Most consultants were rated similarly across all of the three categories, indicating that manager research abilities where also ­broadly in line with ability to perform fund manager due diligence and operational due diligence.
In the overall scorings Towers Watson came in second, with Russell third and Aon Hewitt fourth. Newcomers Cardano came in 8th ­despite having only operated in the UK for the last four years. (See page 16 for an depth ­interview with the firm's CEO's).
Tom Geraghty, European head of investment consulting at Mercer, said: "The results are indicative of the resources we have put into our investment research capability. We have worked hard to develop each of the ­boutiques; equities, bonds, real estate and alternatives. It is also pleasing to see the work of the ­Mercer Sentinel team recognised"
Tony Gusmao, chief executive at Alexander Forbes Financial Services, which came 15th, said: "Having only repositioned ourselves into the consulting and actuarial market in recent months, we are looking forward to climbing the rankings as our institutional proposition develops."