​(Cairo, Egypt) — As the winner in five different categories in the recently announced Thomson Reuters / Zawya MENA Asset Management Awards, EFG Hermes Asset Management, one of the region’s largest and most diverse asset management houses, has clearly demonstrated its ability to outperform its peers. With USD 2.8 billion in AUM and growing, the division is recognized as the top-performer in the field regionally. In Egypt, its five conventional equity funds beat their competitors’ average two-year return (as of 31 December 2013) by nearly 10 points. Its Egyptian Islamic equity funds have performed similarly, and the division has taken home regional and global industry awards for its track records in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.   “Staying atop the leaderboard is often more challenging than getting there in the first place,” said Amr Seif, Head of EFG Hermes Asset Management. “It’s all about remaining a consistent top performer and growing at the same time. We’re doing this in a number of ways. We serve a broad range of investors, and we are always on the lookout for investment themes to develop into.”   At the Thomson Reuters MENA Asset Management Awards 2014 the EFG Hermes MEDA Fund, which achieved a return of 45.8%, received the Zawya Fund Award for being the Top Performing MENA Equity Fund in 2013.   Commenting on the Division’s ability to garner such an impressive number of regional and country-specific awards this year Seif said, “We have a fairly unconventional approach to asset management. Rather than being risk-averse, we hold that risk-taking is what we do. We like risk and encourage it — that’s how returns are made. While we do this, of course, we strive to balance the risk-return equation and rather than looking for predictability we look to identify the risks and hence pick the outperforming stocks.”   At the June 1, 2014 Thomson Reuters MENA Asset Management Awards ceremony, the division’s Banque du Caire Fund I was named Zawya’s Top Performing Equity Fund in Egypt in 2013, and the Credit Agricole Egypt Fund III was named Top Performing Money Market Fund in Egypt in 2013.   The division’s Saudi Equity Fund — which achieved a 48.8% Net Total Return — was recognized at the Thomson Reuters event as Zawya’s Top-Performing Equity Fund in Saudi Arabia in 2013. Also this year, the division was named Best Asset Manager Saudi Arabia and Best Asset Manager UAE at the Global Banking & Finance Awards 2014. Meanwhile, Al Waseela Fund (F Class) was named Zawya’s Top Performing Equity fund in Qatar in 2013.   At Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards 2014, EFG Hermes’ Al Baraka Fund was recognized as the Best Islamic Equity Fund over both two-year and one-year periods in the Global Islamic Category.   Others of the division’s Egypt funds have been consistently ranked in the top three in equity and money markets, as well as in the top two in Qatar.   EFG Hermes-managed money market funds have performed especially well, outperforming other non-EFG Hermes funds by an annual average of almost 30 basis points since 2006. As of the end of May 2014, the funds were atop this year’s league tables with a 0.57% annualized return rate, placing the firm’s five managed money market funds at the top of their peer groups in 2014.   “Even as we actively maintain our responsiveness to our current market, we are gradually widening the universe of what we view as interesting or investable. This is obviously in developing markets with characteristics similar to ours, primarily in Africa,” said Seif. “We have relatively large analytical resources that, in addition to the fund managers who actually manage the funds, are covering a very wide universe that spans from Morocco to Oman with the capacity to cover more markets. I’m a firm believer that products absolutely must follow the research effort, not vice versa.”   “In a nutshell, this is our investment story, and the formula for our success, even in these very challenging waters. I am confident about the strength of the firm and the quality of our team. My role is to nurture what we have and ensure that we maintain growth and remain a consistent top performer.”