Bennett, who runs a variety of European portfolios at Henderson, including the five crown-rated European Focus fund, says he sees himself as a global investor who just happens to invest in businesses that reside on the continent. Multiple headwinds related to the eurozone crisis have been regarded as genuine threats to European companies.
However, Bennett says that there are real "global champions" listed on the various European indices that derive the majority of their earnings and revenues from around the world.
Alexander Darwall is one manager who admits that he runs a global fund that sits in the European sector. That is the message that Bennett says needs to be put across to retail investors.
"I think that during my career in this business, too many people have just over-complicated things," he said.
"After 26 years of running portfolios, I have always said that I don’t run a European fund – I run a global fund."
"When you buy the DAX, you are not buying Europe," he added.
"I do think we have a distinctly British view here, where we always think of Europe as those guys 'over there'. Now we are having this ongoing debate about whether we should be in or out of the EU, which isn’t helping matters."
"Yes, there are domestic or stretched European companies, but we hold a collection of great global companies that just happened to be born in Europe."
"Nestle is about as Swiss as I am," he joked.
"I always ask clients that when they buy the FTSE, do you really think that you are buying the UK economy? The answer is 'no'. By getting too hung up on the idea of Europe, you are missing out on so much," he added.
Bennett has managed European-focused funds in the IMA universe since 1993, having previously headed up funds at both Gartmore and GAM.
According to our data, since the turn of the millennium, Bennett has returned 183.75 per cent compared with 65.13 per cent from his peers.
Performance of manager vs peers since Jan 2000
Source: FE Analytics
Bennett takes a distinctly bottom-up approach to investing, with stock selection being the main driver of his portfolio’s performance.
He says taking the macro into consideration will only hinder investors and probably make them very depressed.
"I always say if you read the headlines, you will miss the profits. That is how Europe is and how it has always been," he said.
"You can have discussions about Europe at a dinner party and talk about the geo-political situation, but it should be left at the dinner table and should not dictate how you manage money. We just invest in global champions."
"There is 'stranded Europe', where the company’s assets and earnings all centre on Europe. These are the likes of utilities and telecoms. A company like Peugeot is another example, a regional car company in a global market."
"That’s the sort of thing you have to be careful of," he added.
This approach has worked well for Bennett so far.
The manager took over the £86.7m Henderson European Focus fund in February 2010. FE Analytics data shows that it is a top-quartile performer in the IMA Europe ex UK sector over one and three years.
With Bennett at the helm, the fund is the seventh-best performing fund in the sector, with returns of 55.02 per cent, beating the sector by more than 20 percentage points in the process.
Performance of fund vs sector since Feb 2010
Source: FE Analytics
The fund also has a lower annualised volatility than its peers over this time.
"One of our largest holdings is Sanofi and it sells more to the emerging markets than it does to the western world. However, a lot of people just say its a French company, so its best not to invest in it."
Bennett runs a concentrated portfolio, an approach he feels can deliver much higher returns over the long-run.
"It is important to us that we don’t hold something like 100 stocks because I think that people just end up over-diversifying. About 80 per cent of the fund is in large caps, because I think they will lead the next stage of the rally, as mid caps have had a very good run."
"In both our funds we have around 9 per cent in both Roche and Novartis. We like to take high-conviction positions and not benchmark ourselves."
"I understand the tracker phenomenon, I really do. There are managers who beat the market, but there are a lot that fail against their benchmark."
"Normally they are sacred of it and so hug it; to them its more about career risk, not client risk."
His £83.7m Henderson European Focus fund is a concentrated portfolio of just 39 holdings, with healthcare its heaviest sector overweight.
Henderson European Focus has an ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 1.76 per cent and requires a minimum investment of £1,000.
