Greif Capital funds outperform benchmarks with active strategies

Greif Capital Management’s Human Intelligence Fund, launched in August 2021, has outperformed the MSCI World index by over 50% over five years despite a Total Expense Ratio of 2.39%. The strategy systematically copies the high-conviction holdings of 190 top-performing fund managers identified in Greif's annual study, resulting in a concentrated portfolio of 32 stocks. The fund rebalances its entire portfolio six times a year, leading to high transaction costs. Performance has been inconsistent annually: it outperformed the MSCI World by 4% in 2022, underperformed by 4% in 2024, and achieved over 30% returns in 2025 and 2026. The approach is based on a 2003 Harvard Business School and London School of Economics study suggesting that concentrated portfolios with high-conviction bets generate 2.8% to 4.5% annual alpha. Volker Schilling argues that copying the best ideas of proven managers is superior to creating new, untested strategies. In a separate initiative, the Zukunftsfonds, launched in 2017, has grown to 48 million euros in assets and delivered a 38% total return since inception. It maintains a maximum drawdown of 8% and targets 2-6% annual returns with volatility under 5%. Schilling contends that the fund's low volatility justifies its 1.05% TER. Additionally, Schilling criticizes active ETFs as inefficient, labeling them a charade because managers stay close to the benchmark to avoid penalties, yet charge high fees. He notes that high turnover required for true active management is incompatible with the ETF structure.