EUROPE - UK asset managers are outperforming their counterparts on the continent as a higher number of firms delivered positive alpha compared with managers in France, Switzerland and Spain, according to an academic study conducted by EDHEC and Europerformance.

A comparison of EDHEC's UK Alpha League Table (ALT) - specially created to deliver a genuine measure of alpha - against continential tables suggests 55.2% of UK funds deliver positive alpha - a further gain against the 46.3% average frequency achieved in 2006 - while 42.4% of Swiss funds reach positive alpha against 30.7% o French funds and 30% of Spanish funds.

The actual average positive alpha generated by UK fund managers was 2.9% compared with an average of 2.4% among Swiss managers, 2.2% by French managers and 2% by Spanish managers.

It is in the country's home markets where the greatest number of four- and five-star funds can be found, according to the EDHEC/Europerformance alpha methodology.

Yet the study also found UK managers also generated superior alpha to other nations in international equities as UK funds delivered 3.8% while French managers saw positive alpha on international equities of  2.64% against 2.42% by Swiss funds.

Looking more closely at the 2008 UK ALT, Jupiter generated the best alpha intensity, as the firm delivered average alpha of 4.23% while the delivery frequency was 73.75%, raising its position in this year's study from second to first.

Artemis - owned by Fortis Investments - generated an average alpha of 4.51% but slipped down the table slightly because it delivered the frequency for 66.1% of the time.

And M&G, owned by the UK life insurer Prudential plc, came third in the ranking as it generated average alpha of 4.38% for 66.54% frequency.

Companies making a first appearance in the top 10 also included Coutts, the investment bank, Allianz RCM BNY Mellon/Newton and Threadneedle Investments.

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