365 Active Global Funds, AUM $906bn
France
Global equity managers are positioned at their highest ever overweight in French equities. France is the 4th largest country allocation globally and the largest in the European Union. Versus the benchmark, only the Netherlands has more funds positioned overweight. Sanofi and Cap Gemini SA have benefited from fund rotation this year, with the percentage of funds invested in each name rising by 4.1% and 3.3% respectively.
Time Series & Country Positioning
Global equity managers are positioned at their highest ever overweight in French equities. Average holding weights (top left chart) have moved towards the top end of the 8-year range at 4.16%, pushing net overweights to a record +1.48% above the iShares ACWI ETF benchmark (top right). Of the 365 Global funds in our analysis, 64.4% are overweight France compared to the ACWI index (bottom right).
This places France as the 4th largest country allocation globally and the largest in the European Union. Versus the benchmark, only the Netherlands has more funds positioned overweight and the UK a larger net overweight position. Of the Global funds in our analysis, 89.9% have some exposure to France, making it the 3rd most widely held country exposure behind the USA and the UK.
Fund Holdings & Style
The charts below show the average holding weights in France versus the benchmark ACWI index, split by Style. Whilst all Style groups are positioned overweight and have increased overweights this year, Aggressive Growth and Yield managers have led the charge. Both are now positioned towards their highest ever overweights of +2.62% and +2.42% respectively, considerably above Value, Growth and GARP investors.
The bulk of the portfolio weights in France are captured at between 2% – 6%, with a long tail to the upside led by PGIM Jennison Global Opportunities (17.5%) and the Value funds of Sanlam Global Value (13.93%) and Value Square Equity World (13.87%).
Stock Holdings & Activity
On a stock level, LVMH Moet Hennessy is the most widely held name, owned by 30% of Global managers at an average weight of 0.45%. It is also prevalent among the higher conviction holdings in the bottom chart, led by Mundoval Fund (6.3%) and Invesco Global Growth (5.83%). Sanofi and Schneider Electric occupy the 2nd tier, owned by 26.3% and 25.5% of funds respectively and both held overweight on average by active Global managers. In fact, not one of the top 15 holdings in France represents an underweight position for active global managers, on average.
Sanofi and Capgemini SE have benefited from fund rotation this year, with the percentage of funds invested in each name rising by 4.1% and 3.3% respectively. The increase in Yield fund exposure this year was driven in part by new positions from BL Equities Dividend in Hermes International and DWS CROCI Global Dividends in Kering and TotalEnergies. With global investors becoming wary on German positioning in light of the recent energy crisis (see last month’s insight “Germany: Growth Concerns Drive All-Time Lows”), French companies are looking increasingly attractive.
Stock Profile: Sanofi
Stock Profile: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton
Click on the link below for the latest data report on French positioning among active Global funds.
For more analysis, data or information on active investor positioning in your market, please get in touch with me on steven.holden@copleyfundresearch.com
Related Posts
