Hunting value in equity and wine

By Raji Menon

LONDON (Reuters) - Alan Brown, global investment chief at Schroders (SDR.L), tries to bring the rational thinking of his day job to his private enthusiasm for value plays in the world of wine.

The 53-year old, who oversees more than 100 billion pounds in assets at the London-based firm, likes to hunt down cheap but high quality vintages in much the same way as he plays the markets.

"I try to avoid stocks which are already on glamour ratings where they already have pretty high expectations built into their share price," Brown told Reuters.

"My instinct is to go for value stocks which have been neglected and the same principles apply to wine."

Running the numbers holds water for both, he said.

"An apparently difficult topic such as wine can be rationalised quite well. You don't have to necessarily be a wine buff with knowledge of every single chateaux, you can find a lot of it just from the data," he said.

Brown is directly responsible for equities and multi-asset portfolios at Schroders, as well as structured products, and also sets the group's overall investment policy.

Data from Thomson Reuters fund research firm Lipper show some of Schroders' core funds have suffered with the rest.

The more than 1 billion pound UK Alpha Plus and UK Mid 250 funds have closely followed average losses among their peers in the Lipper Global benchmarks over 12 months.

But the 830 million pound Income fund is second only in its Lipper Global benchmark to J O Hambro over the period.

So how do you get your cellar to outperform?

Brown enjoys an inexpensive bottle of Viognier with his curry, as much as a 1982 bottle of Romanee Conti -- the most expensive in his cellar. To generate returns, though, he says the finest Bordeaux and Burgundies are tough to beat.

PRICE LAG

He tips New World Pinot Noirs as a value investment, as well as wines from Chateaux Pichon Longueville in Bordeaux.

A 2001 South African Meerlust Rubicon which picked up an an international award now trades at three times its original price, he said.