The latest Morningstar figures also show that active equity funds posted a 14% increase in net assets under management (AUM) to €2.7trn (£2.36trn, $3.33trn) last year.
The data revealed the five active European equity funds with the largest net inflows during the year were:
- Sweden’s default pension fund AP7 Aktiefond at €2.53bn
- Baillie Gifford’s Long Term Global Growth Investment Fund at €2.52bn
- Goldman Sachs’ Global CORE Equity Portfolio at €2.5bn
- the Pictet-Robotics fund at €2.47bn
- Terry Smith’s Fundsmith Equity fund at €2.46bn
The AP7 Aktiefond also topped the charts with the largest AUM at €40.3bn. It was followed by Deutsche Asset Management’s DWS Top Dividende fund at €19.2bn, Fundsmith Equity at €15.1bn, Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund at €11.6bn, and Findlay Park American Fund at €10.7bn.
On the European passive equity fund side, the sector saw net inflows of €74.9bn during 2017 which drove up AUM by 23% to €958.3bn.
The Morningstar data found that Blackrock dominated this sector in terms of flows for the year.
The top five passive equity funds in terms of net inflows were:
- Blackrock ACS 50:50 Global Equity Tracker Fund at €9.5bn
- Blackrock ACS UK Equity Tracker Fund at €6bn
- Blackrock ACS World ex UK Equity Tracker Fund at €5.8bn
- Blackrock ACS 30:70 Global Equity Tracker Fund at €3.6bn
- Blackrock ACS 60:40 Global Equity Tracker Fund at €3.2bn
In terms of the largest AUM, Blackrock’s iShares made up four of the top five with their iShares Core S&P 500 ETF at €21.5bn leading the charts. This was followed by Vanguard S&P 500 ETF at €18bn, iShares UK Equity Index Fund (UK) at €12.3bn, iShares Core MSCI World ETF at €11.5bn, and iShares Developed World Index Fund (IE) at €10.7bn.
