Jupiter Merlin Balanced Portfolio: September 2026 fund update

• The Jupiter Independent Funds Team manages a range of multi-asset funds

• A fund of funds structure means the funds in the range are very well diversified

• Long-term performance has been better than peers in the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% sector

• This fund doesn’t currently feature on our Wealth Shortlist of funds chosen by our analysts for their long-term performance potential

How it fits in a portfolio

The Jupiter Merlin Balanced Portfolio aims to provide long-term growth. Typically 65-85% of the fund invests in global stock markets as the fund management team think that shares offer the best long-term growth potential. The fund also invests in other assets such as bonds or commodities.

We think this fund could form the core of a portfolio aiming to deliver long-term growth with fewer ups and downs compared to one that’s only invested in shares. It could also provide some growth potential to a more cautiously invested portfolio.

Manager

The fund is managed by the Jupiter Independent Funds Team. John Chatfeild-Roberts and David Lewis co-head the team, with 36 and 20 years’ experience respectively. Chatfeild-Roberts is one of the founding members of the team and has managed the fund since launch in October 2002. Lewis became a manager of the fund in July 2014.

The team is made up of six individuals with varying levels of investment experience. This is designed to help with future succession planning for the longest serving team members.

For example, Algy Smith-Maxwell retired in 2025 after working alongside Chatfeild-Roberts for over 30 years. The team had been planning for this since 2021. George Fox subsequently became a fund manager, followed by the appointment of Venetia Campbell in 2023. This allowed plenty of time for Smith-Maxwell to hand over all responsibilities prior to his retirement.

We view the set-up of the team and the longevity of team members positively.

Process

This is a fund of funds, which means the managers select and invest in other funds, rather than individual companies or bonds. The team invest in some funds run by other managers at Jupiter, but mostly in funds run by other asset managers.

The team aspire to have the right amount, invested with the right people, at the right time. To do this they have a four-stage process: understanding what’s going on in global markets, picking funds that can make the most of the current environment, thinking about how to blend those funds into a single investment and monitoring whether the funds are performing as expected.

This results in the managers investing in between 10-20 funds that provide different investment styles, regions and asset classes. The managers mostly invest in actively managed funds which they believe have greater potential to outperform peers. While they can invest in tracker funds, which instead try to track the performance of an index rather than outperform it, they don’t do this often.

While the fund can invest between 40-85% into global shares, it typically invests at the higher end of that range as the managers believe they offer the best long-term growth potential. At the end of August 2026, 86.2% was invested in funds focused on shares. This includes 44.4% invested in global equity funds, with other direct investments including 18.7% in Japan, 18.1% in the UK and 5% in Emerging Markets. The underlying funds have a small amount held in cash, which keeps the total amount invested in shares for this fund under the 85% limit.

The rest of the fund is invested in a combination of cash, bonds, property and absolute return funds. These should provide some protection during stock market shocks.

The amount invested in Japan is a lot more than in the global stock market. The team are positive about ongoing corporate governance reform in the country. Companies there are improving governance standards and supporting higher shareholder returns with increased dividends and share buybacks. They think this will boost growth over the long term.

While the fund is highly diversified, the managers invest in emerging markets, smaller companies, high yield bonds and property, which adds risk.

Culture

The fund managers at Jupiter are given autonomy to invest the way they see fit. They believe this will benefit investors over the long run, but the autonomy comes with an appropriate level of challenge from others in the business. This business set-up allows the Jupiter Independent Funds Team to focus on fund management, their team, and maintain flexibility.

Fund managers at Jupiter are incentivised in line with the performance of their funds over various timeframes. We think this aligns their interests with those of investors and helps the managers to focus on delivering strong performance for clients.

ESG Integration

Jupiter’s approach to ESG is fund manager led, so the fund managers themselves are responsible for implementing ESG in their investment decisions. They typically approach ESG issues with a materiality-based approach, meaning they focus on the ESG risks most material to each company. The firm also subscribes to several third-party data providers (including Sustainalytics, RepRisk, ISS and MSCI) which offer information that fund managers can use in their research. Where red flags are raised, the managers investigate. Fund managers work closely with central ESG experts on ESG integration, engagement, and proxy voting and the fund managers’ commitment to these topics is a consideration in their annual appraisals.

We like that engagement is not delegated to a separate department. Instead, the fund manager who made the decision to invest in the company leads engagement activity directly, allowing more meaningful and relevant engagement. More information about the firm’s ESG policies and engagement case studies can be found in its annual Stewardship report.

Amanda Sillars oversees all ESG engagement with the underlying fund managers that the team invest in. The team share a view that fund managers who take ESG and stewardship seriously tend to avoid the riskiest companies within their area of specialism. They also look for how underlying managers improve their ESG analysis over time, with a preference for managers who are always looking to adapt and move forward in this area. While the fund isn’t a specifically sustainable fund, we think the managers assess underlying ESG risk and incorporate this into their fund selection process well.

Cost

The fund has an annual ongoing fund charge of 1.46%. This makes it one of the most expensive funds in the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% sector. The fund of funds structure tends to result in a higher fee compared to funds that are directly invested because there are two layers of charging – the fee from the manager of this fund and the fee from the managers of the underlying funds.

Please note that where the fund invests in other funds managed by Jupiter, only the management fee for the Jupiter Merlin Balanced Portfolio is applied.

The HL platform fee of up to 0.35% per year also applies, except in the HL Junior ISA, where no platform fee applies. Both a buy and sell instruction will be subject to HL dealing charges. Find out more about our charges.

Performance

The fund's performed well for investors since launch in October 2002. Over this time, the fund has delivered a return of 634.6%** compared with 419.3%* for the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% peer group. This is a good outcome for long-term investors in the fund and highlights that while costs are high compared to much of the peer group, this hasn’t held back performance. Although, past performance is not a guide to future returns.

The longer-term outperformance has continued recently. Over the past year to 31 August 2026, the fund has returned 23.5% compared to the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% average return of 14.9%.

Investments in Japan, which on average made up 17.5% of the fund, were particularly positive. Not only did Japan perform better than a number of other regions, but the funds the managers invested in also outperformed the broader Japan stock market. Investments in global equity funds also performed well, while a small investment in gold added further to performance. Investing less in bonds compared to peers helped performance as shares performed better over the period.

Given the managers’ preference for investing in shares, we expect the fund to do better when shares perform well, but it might lag peers during stock market falls.

** Please note that this data is for Class L units in order to show performance since the fund was launched. The performance noted below is using Class I units, which are available to investors with HL and have lower ongoing charges.