Big bets on the insurance, energy and iron ore sectors helped the Lazard Australian Equity Fund top Mercer’s investment manager performance tables for 2022.

The fund co-managed by Rob Osborn, Tim Zhao, Phil Hofflin and Aaron Binsted returned 27.6 per cent before fees last year to rank number one of 133 managers surveyed on performance, and demolish the S&P/ASX 200’s annual total loss of 1.1 per cent.