Branson loses money in investment bet with SGAM's Horlick

Virgin's Richard Branson, champion of the tracker fund, has lost a bet made with Nicola Horlick three years ago, that SG Asset Management's actively managed UK Growth fund could not outperform the All Share by 2% each year, over three years, writes Jenne Mannion in Investor's Week. Branson, who owns Virgin Direct, a major provider of index tracker funds, challenged Horlick that the then-new UK Growth fund, launched on 18 March 1998 and managed by Peter Seabrook, would not be able to fulfil its objective of achieving 2% outperformance of the index. Three years later, to 16 March 2001,...