UK/EUROPE- Fidelity Investment Services has been voted the leading pan-European fund management firm for the second year running in the 2002 Thomsom Extel Survey of analysts and investment managers. Capital Group was runner up to Fidelity for a second year while Schroder Investment Management retained third spot.

This year’s report drew responses from 78 brokerage firms and 167 of Europe’s largest companies. A further 860 fund management companies, up 50% on last year, took the total number of votes close to 100,000.

For David Stewart, Fidelity’s president of UK and European institutional business, the award is recognition of stock picking driven by independent research.

“This shows that those houses with their own independent research are truly beginning to benefit. This is a story that’s going to run and run and is certainly something we realised a long time ago and continue to build on. We believe this is recognition of the breath and depth of our research,” he says.

Merrill Lynch Investment managers, recipient of awful media coverage in the UK recently, took fourth place ahead of JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management. Positions six to ten were filled, respectively, by Deutsche, Putnam, Wellington, Morley and AXA Investment Managers.

One of the survey’s most prestigious awards, that of leading pan European brokerage firm for equity research, went to UBS Warburg for a second year running. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney were unchanged in second place while Deutsche Bank climbed from fifth place last year to secure the third spot.

The survey was supposed to include investment consultants for the first time. Earlier this year, head of the survey Steve Kelly said the inclusion of the investment consultancy industry seemed a logical expansion of the coverage. Kelly was unavailable to say why the consultants were not included or whether they will feature in the 2003 edition.

Other awards included CSFB’s Harald Hendrikse being nominated leading pan-European equity analyst. Diageo knocked BP off the top spot and was named as the best quoted company in Europe for investor relations:

UBS was named leading brokerage firm for equity sales and for equity trading and execution. Deutsche Bank jumped from fifth place and took top honours off UBS Warburg after the participating companies voted it leading brokerage firm.

Schroder Salomon Smith Barney’s utilities and banks teams took a respective first and second place in the category for leading European equity sector team.

James Eden of Commerzbank Securities was this year voted the leading ‘rising star’ analyst while Guy Farmer at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney was named the leading specialist salesman in Europe

The main results of the survey are available at www.extelsurvey.com.

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