Forty-one is a bit too old to be classified as a hot young thing. But having had a few false dawns and frustrated well-heeled backers such as the Packers’ Consolidated Press Holdings and Sydney’s Caledonia (Private) Investments, ASX-listed Challenger is attracting sideways looks from investors.Its shares have returned 34 per cent in the past year, five times the S&P/ASX 200 and 10 times the financial services index. Why? Because it is out of banking, it merged its funds management business Fidante into a rival, the regulatory winds have changed, and it is all-in on the decades-old dream that attracted those backers in the first place: annuities.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles