Six global equity funds, three global flexible funds and one South African resources fund made up the 10 top-performing South African unit trusts over the 10 years ending December 2024, according to Morningstar and factsheet data.

Citywire South Africa excluded funds with less than R100m in assets for this story.

South Africa has more than 1,700 registered unit trusts, but only just over 750 have a 10-year track record.

1 - Blue Quadrant Worldwide Flexible

Over 10 years, the R276m Blue Quadrant Worldwide Flexible Prescient fund is the top-performing South African unit trust. It is also the top-performing fund over five years.

The portfolio gained an annualised 18.1% over the 10 years ended December 2024 compared with an annualised gain of 15.5% for its benchmark, which is the MSCI World Total Return Net index in rands.

The fund’s 10-year performance comes despite a significant underperformance relative to its benchmark in 2024.

Since its inception in August 2013, the fund has gained an annualised 17.6% compared with the 16.4% annualised for its benchmark.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were Seadrill, Cenovus Energy, Volkswagen, Pan African Resources and Murphy Oil.

2 - Coronation Resources

The R1.5bn Coronation Resources fund gained 15.9% over the 10 years ending December 2024.

The performance compared with an annualised 7.6% for the fund’s benchmark, which is the FTSE/JSE Resources index.

Since the fund’s inception in October 1999, it has gained an annualised 16.9% compared with 11.3% for its benchmark.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were Anglo American, Mondi, Northam Platinum, Impala Platinum and Exxaro Resources.

3 - Old Mutual Global Equity

The R39bn Old Mutual Global Equity fund gained an annualised 15.6% over the 10 years ending December 2024.

The performance compared with an annualised 16.1% for the fund’s benchmark, which is the MSCI World index.

The fund has also been a top 10 performer for more than five years among SA unit trusts.

Since the fund’s inception in May 1995, it has gained an annualised 14.1% compared with 14.5% for its benchmark.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon.

4 - BlueAlpha BCI Global Equity

The R1.2bn BlueAlpha BCI Global Equity fund gained an annualised 14.9% over the 10 years ending December 2024, according to BlueAlpha.

That performance is compared with an annualised 12% for the portfolio’s benchmark, which is the average of the Asisa global equity general category, according to BlueAlpha.

Since the fund’s inception in September 2014, it has gained an annualised 15.7% compared with 12% annualised for its benchmark.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were Broadcom, ServiceNow, Booking Holdings, Alphabet and Amazon.

5 -  Mi-Plan IP Global Macro

The 2.7bn Mi-Plan IP Global Macro fund, which is a global multi-asset flexible fund, gained an annualised 14.8% over 10 years ending December 2024.

That performance compared with an annualised 13.9% for the portfolio’s composite benchmark, which consists of 80% of the MSCI World index, 15% of US dollar cash and 5% of the Stefi index.

Veteran fund manager Tony Bell runs the fund and the Global IP Opportunity fund, ranked seventh on this list.

Since the fund’s inception in May 2013, it has gained an annualised 16.9% compared with 13.9% annualised for its benchmark.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were the JP Morgan Ultra-Short Income ETF, JP Morgan Chase,  Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft.

6 -  Satrix MSCI World

The R23.3bn Satrix MSCI World Index fund gained an annualised 14.3% over the 10 years ending December 2024.

That performance compared with an annualised 15.4% for the portfolio’s benchmark, which is the MSCI World index in rands.

Since the fund’s inception in October 2013, it has returned an annualised 14.7% compared with 16.1% annualised for its benchmark.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms.

6 - Global IP Opportunity

The R1.9bn Global IP Opportunity fund gained an annualised 14.3% over the 10 years ending December 2024.

That performance compared with an annualised 14.3% for the portfolio’s composite benchmark, which consists of 80% of the MSCI World index, 15% of US dollar cash and 5% of the Stefi index.

Since the fund’s inception in February 2014, it has gained an annualised 14.4%, which is equal to its benchmark return.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were the JP Morgan Ultra-Short Income ETF, Nvidia, JP Morgan Chase,  Apple and Microsoft.

8 - Stanlib Global Equity

The R9.3bn Stanlib Global Equity feeder fund gained an annualised 14.1% over the 10 years ended December 2024.

That performance compared with an annualised 14.3% for the portfolio’s composite benchmark, which consists of 95% of the MSCI World index and 5% of the Stefi index.

Since the fund’s inception in July 2008 until the end of December 2024, it has gained an annualised 11.7%, which compares with 13% to its benchmark return.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were the Union Pacific, Roche, Abbott Laboratories, Stryker and T-Mobile US.

9 - Stanlib Multi-Manager Global

The R3.9bn Stanlib Multi-Manager Global Equity feeder fund gained 13.5% over the 10 years that ended in December 2024.

That performance compared with an annualised 14.1% for the portfolio’s composite benchmark, which consists of 95% of the MSCI World index and 5% of the Stefi Composite index.

The fund does not disclose its returns since its inception in September 2000 in its fact sheet.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s underlying managers were AllianceBernstein, Arrowstreet Capital, JP Morgan Asset Management, Sanders Capital, Sands Capital and Veritas Asset Management.

10 - Ninety One Global Franchise

The R40.5bn Ninety One Global Franchise feeder fund gained an annualised 13.4% over the 10 years ended December 2024.

That performance compared with an annualised 14.7% for the portfolio’s benchmark, which is the MSCI All Country World net return index.

Since the fund’s inception in May 1996, it has gained an annualised 11.7%, compared with an annualised 12.7% benchmark return.

At the end of December 2024, the fund’s top five holdings were Visa, Microsoft, ASML, Booking Holdings and Philip Morris International.