Hi anfo. Basically, I look at things from two angles. First, the investment strategy. By extension, this means the intersection of the strategy and the managers' capability to enact that strategy in a robust, repeatable manner to meet their investment objective. Secondly, I'll look at whether the structure being employed is a supporting or detracting factor. The greatest investment strategy in the world is pointless if you have thrown it into a structure which heavily detracts from the investment merit.
The question on which strategies have been attracting investor attention is an interesting one. Up until say five years ago, the greater majority of LICs/LITs (by market cap) were long only Aussie equities. Since then, there has been much more interest in asset classes like international equities and fixed interest and strategies like Long Short, Market Neutral, equity income and global macro. The problem however is that some of these non-equity beta strategies are fine in principle, but you kind of have to question the point of putting low equity beta into a listed shell. But there you go.
The managed accounts questions is also an interesting one. Personally, I think it's just too much of a hassle for managers to alter their licenses. At the end of the day, it's still a fairly new concept for some. And never underestimate the lure of captive fee earning FUM. Will the market move more in that direction in the future? Very possibly. But who knows.
