TEXT-Fitch affirms DNCA Invest Evoluti's 'strong' rating

Jan 23 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed DNCA Invest Evolutif's 'Strong' Fund
Quality Rating. The fund is Luxembourg-domiciled and managed by DNCA Finance.

Launched in July 2007, DNCA Invest Evolutif is a flexible balanced fund invested
in stocks and bonds (including convertible) of large European companies with an
active management of allocation. It had EUR53m of assets at end-December 2012.

The investment process is the same as that of DNCA Evolutif (the fund's
French-domiciled clone). It was established in 2000 by Mr Delaye, lead portfolio
manager (PM) and co-founder of DNCA. The investment philosophy is opportunistic
with a focus on assets' risk/return profile and well-known companies. The
approach is bottom up, with potentially large sector deviations relative to
market indices, and market/technical factors have limited influence on PMs'
decisions. PMs trade tactically around a core value/dividend oriented portfolio
and the allocation is managed actively within the authorised limits (30% to 90%
of portfolio for equity exposure). The formalisation is limited, mitigated by
the solid communication sharing between DNCA Finance's investment professionals
and the strong accountability of the three PMs. The "investment edge" resides in
a simple strategy utilising traditional liquid assets, a focused and
well-researched investment universe and an opportunistic approach to asset
selection and allocation.

The DNCA Invest Evolutif fund (I share class) has returned 11.98% over the year
to 31 December 2012, outperforming its Lipper category "Mixed Asset EUR Flex -
Eurozone" by 2.8%. In 2012 the fund remained prudent, with an average equity
exposure of 56%, favouring safe corporate issues yielding 5.5% on average. The
fund however finished the year with its highest equity exposure level of the
year, at 62%. DNCA Invest Evolutif has a Lipper Leader for consistent return of
five over three and five years. Its French clone has achieved the best Lipper
Leader score over five years (and four over three years). This strong track
record coupled with a satisfactory qualitative assessment enabled the fund to
reach a "Strong" FQR rating.

The rating assigned to the fund may be sensitive to material changes in the
fund's performance or its manager's profile. In the case of DNCA Invest
Evolutif, the lead PM, occupies a key role and, if he were to cease to manage
the fund, Fitch could review the rating.

Founded in 2000, DNCA Finance is owned by its management and a private equity
fund, following a leveraged management buyout transaction in 2011. At
end-December 2012, DNCA Finance had EUR5.2bn of assets under management, mainly
in European equity and balanced funds, predominantly for French investors with a
recent foray abroad.

Fitch's Fund Quality Ratings combine Fitch's experience in qualitative fund
analysis with rankings and performance data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters
company. Fitch's Fund Quality Ratings offer an independent, forward-looking
assessment of a fund's key performance and risk attributes and consistency of
longer-term returns, relative to peer group or benchmarks. The ratings focus on
the fund manager's investment process, key fund performance drivers, risk
management, and the quality of the fund's operational infrastructure.Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.

The ratings above were solicited by, or on behalf of, the issuer, and therefore,
Fitch has been compensated for the provision of the ratings.

Applicable criteria, 'Fund Quality Rating Criteria', dated 19 September 2011, is
available at www.fitchratings.com.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:
Fund Quality Ratings Criteria: Assessing Funds' Investment Processes and
Operational Attributes