Impax Asset Management
Fund: Impax Global High Yield Fund
Speaker: Klaus Blaabjerg - Senior Portfolio Manager
Session: High Yield: Why focus on undervalued credits? The answer is grounded in common sense and endorsed by academic research
The Impax global high yield team has successfully invested in the global high yield space for more than a decade. The investment philosophy is based on the belief that credit markets are inefficient, which leaves many attractive opportunities for disciplined investors.
We actively select undervalued credits where spreads are too high relative to credit risk. Keeping default risk low is key to our approach as this allows us to pick up the excess spread from the undervalued credits over time and outperform the market.
In the workshop we will explain our process of finding these undervalued credits and also discuss supporting quantitative factors such as size, value, momentum and low risk.
Nomura Asset Management
Fund: Nomura Funds Ireland plc – Emerging Market Corporate Bond Fund
Speaker: Meno Stroemer - Head of Emerging Market Corporate Bond Portfolio Management Nomura Corporate Research and Asset Management Inc
Session: Demystifying Emerging Market Corporate Bonds: Attractive risk-adjusted return profile for challenging markets
Emerging Market corporate bonds are frequently misunderstood as an exotic and peripheral asset class operating in challenging jurisdictions that is often just better ignored.
However, a closer look will reveal many surprising characteristics. At the core is a large universe of issuers with superior credit fundamentals where 60% of the issuers are rated investment grade and operate in high growth economies. At the same time, valuations remain attractive on a historical basis versus developed market peers, while technical continue to provide meaningful tailwind.
Barings
Fund: Global Investment Grade Credit Fund
Speaker: Natalia Krol, Managing Director
Session: Unlocking the total return opportunity in IG credit
Global IG credit is currently amid the perfect trifecta – a supportive macro environment, favorable technicals, and strong fundamentals. Indeed, there has been a quality shift higher in IG markets and corporate bonds are now the safest they have been in over a decade. At the same time, IG credit yields across regions are in the 80th-90th percentile vs. the last 10 years. It is therefore no surprise that investors globally have been attracted back to the corporate bond market in 2024, driving spreads tighter. Yet with over 2,400 global issuers across regions and sectors, the IG credit market offers ample opportunities for differentiation and alpha generation. Please join Natalia Kroll, Barings' Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, as she provides insight into her team’s approach to capturing alpha in current IG credit markets.
EdenTree
Fund: EdenTree Global Select Government Bond Fund
Speaker: David Katimbo-Mugwayna - Head of Fixed Income
Session: Introducing the EdenTree Global Select Government Bond Fund
As economic landscapes continually shift; global government bonds remain a cornerstone of financial stability. In a market environment that offers considerably higher bond yields compared to the last decade, the risk-return profile of government debt from an asset allocation perspective has arguably improved. Join us as we introduce the EdenTree Global Select Government Bond Fund, a new investment vehicle that strategically harnesses the power of sovereign debt but with a portfolio that has more than 80% invested in government and government-related bonds from developed markets with use-of-proceeds provisions. Fund manager David Katimbo-Mugwanya will outline the fund’s diversified portfolio approach, and how it’s potential to deliver consistent market returns makes this an attractive building block for your multi-asset portfolios.
Brookfield Oaktree
Fund: Oaktree Global Credit strategy
Speaker: Madelaine Jones, CFA, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Oaktree Capital Management, Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions
Session: Navigating Credit Markets: Risks and Opportunities Today
The U.S. Federal Reserve lowered interest rates at its September meeting, and rates are poised to continue to decline globally in the coming months. Despite these changing interest rate dynamics, we remain highly optimistic about this environment for fixed income investing. While yields for sub-investment grade bonds have come off their recent highs, they remain well above their December 2021 levels (~300 bps higher), and above their average levels since the global financial crisis (~100 bps higher). High-yielding sub-investment grade credit remains an attractive opportunity for investors looking to both reduce equity risk and insulate against interest rate uncertainty, particularly given these recent moves lower. Please join Madelaine Jones, Oaktree's Managing Director, and Portfolio Manager, as she explains why we believe the Oaktree Global Credit strategy is well positioned as an attractive alternative for investors in these uncertain times where we believe patience will likely be rewarded.
Marlborough Investments
Fund: Global Bond Fund
Speaker: James Athey, Portfolio Manager - Global bonds
Session: Finding the value in Global Fixed Income
A global pandemic, the effective shuttering of the global economy and over eager policy responses saw the inflation genie emerge from the bottle in a way unseen since the 1970s and 80s. The resulting monetary response sent shockwaves through bond markets resulting in once in a generation losses for bond investors. As these shocks subside, and we move through the normalisation process, we see significantly attractive opportunities across global fixed income markets.