Merian Global Investors has insourced the Ireland-domiciled $195.5m Merian Total Return USD Bond fund.
The fund, which was previously managed by Janus Henderson, with Bill Gross as fund manager until February this year, has been handed to Merian Global Investors' Mark Nash and Nick Wall and renamed the Merian Global Dynamic Bond fund.
While the fund's objective (to seek to maximise total return consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management) is unchanged, Merian Global Investors will introduce a number of changes to the investment approach, including:
- An expanded global investment remit, with the restriction that a minimum of 80% of assets must be held in US dollar denominated fixed-income securities removed
- The reference benchmark moving from the Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond Index to the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index (USD Hedged) to reflect the fund's broader geographic reach
- Additional scope to invest in a wider range of securities, including an increased amount of below investment grade corporate bonds, contingent convertible bonds and collective investment scheme
The fixed income team at Merian Global Investors has significant experience running diversified bond funds; utilising a top-down approach, the team establishes a macro view and then populates broad themes with sector specialist "best ideas". The fund managers adopt a stringent risk budgeting technique to ensure risk is spread across positions in line with their conviction in order to hit a fund's targets in the most risk efficient manner possible.
