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June 10, 2021

The All-Terrain Bond Fund Sector Gets Put Through its Paces

by Dewi John.

Strategic bond is the “go anywhere” sector that gives its managers maximum freedom within fixed income. Given last year’s market turmoil, and with many tipping the return of inflation this year, its managers may be tempted to use every bell and whistle at their disposal.

Funds must invest at least 80% of their assets in fixed interest securities. This must be either sterling denominated or hedged back into sterling. Managers have more leeway than those in other bond sectors to decide the credit quality and country they invest within that 80%. They can throw the fund from 100% gilts to 100% emerging market high yield and back again, should they choose—though few, I think, would make so bold a move.

 

Hybrid

Overall, the average strategic bond fund has behaved in the hybrid way that you might expect (table 1). High yield has far outstripped the other bond classes over one, three, and five years, being more correlated with equity returns in a period characterised by a strong rally in this asset class since the market lows last March. But it has done so with greater volatility.

 

Table 1: Bond Sector Comparative Performance


Source: Refinitiv Lipper. Data to 31 March 2021

UK government bonds, on the other hand, have suffered their worst quarter in two decades as investors have sold off the quintessential safe-haven asset in the hope of a UK recovery, propelled by the country’s faster vaccine roll-out.

Sterling high-yield, corporate, and strategic bond fund average returns have beaten their global bond peers over all the time periods listed. This is despite the fact that Refinitiv Lipper classifies more than half of the funds in the sector as global bond vehicles, and that seven of the top 10 performers over three years are also classified as such. So, the outperformance is likely not down to their country allocations.

Another thing to be mindful of with regards to a fund’s allocation is what’s happening with that other fifth of the portfolio. The ability to put 20% of the fund in an entirely different asset class can act as a significant kicker—or completely blow out its performance—depending on which way the wind is blowing. Few managers would want to use that degree of freedom, and Refinitiv Lipper would certainly consider such a fund to be a mixed asset fund, rather than a pure fixed income one. Indeed, we classify five funds in the sector as mixed asset.

 

Roaming around the credit spectrum

Turning our attention to individual performance, the sector has delivered a wide range of returns over three years—from 40.9% to -9.9%—as you might expect, from a grouping that allows such a wide range of allocations.

 

Table 2: Three Year Performance Top Five Funds by Return (%)


Source: Refinitiv Lipper. Data to 31 March 2021

Leading the field, is the Allianz Global Bond fund. It seems to be making good use of the sector’s freedoms. The fund’s largest country allocation in February was Japan (21.7%), followed by Canada (11.3%) and the US (9.6%). Twelve months before, it was the US, Japan, and Germany, with 21%, 15.5%, and 11.8% allocations, respectively. The fund also makes use of its freedom to roam around the credit spectrum. As you can see from the chart below, the percentage of investment grade—and singling out AAA-rated debt—has varied considerably over time. What’s interesting, too, is that while bond fund managers have tended to lower debt quality in the search for yield, the Allianz fund displays no clear trend towards this.

 

Chart 1: Allianz Global Bond Fund’s Credit Quality, November 2017 to February 2021 (%)

Source: Refinitiv Lipper. Data to 31 March 2021

 

That’s put the fund 14 percentage points clear of the second-placed over the period: the Aegon Strategic Bond fund. This has a very different-looking portfolio: 52.4% in investment grade bonds, with 36.4% being in BBB-rated paper (the lowest rated of investment grade). This has likely helped it over the past 12 months, when it is ranked second with a return of 26.4%. That said, the top four funds all carry a Lipper Leaders Consistent Return rating of 5—the highest—over five years.

The leader over Q1 2021 was the AXA Framlington Managed Income fund, returning 3.6%. Refinitiv Lipper classes this as Mixed Asset GBP Conservative—it had a 12.6% equity exposure as of the end of February, and its fixed income exposure has a strong and persistent bias to the UK. So, again, a very different creature to the leaders over three years.

With expectations of post-COVID recovery, the coming months will likely present very different conditions to those we’ve passed through. Will those managers who make use of the freedoms at their disposal be rewarded accordingly? The problem with choice is, of course, that they can always be the wrong ones.

 

This article first appeared in the summer 2021 edition of Personal Finance Professional

 

Refinitiv Lipper delivers data on more than 330,000 collective investments in 113 countries. Find out more.

 

The views expressed are the views of the author and not necessarily those of Refinitiv. This material is provided as market commentary and for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment research or advice. Refinitiv cannot be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss resulting from applying any of the information provided in this publication or from any other source mentioned. Please consult with a qualified professional for financial advice.

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