Andy Sowerby
Legg Mason, one of world’s largest funds management groups, has announced that the Legg Mason Western Asset Macro Opportunities Bond Fund has been added to Colonial First State FirstWrap platform.
The Legg Mason Western Asset Macro Opportunities Bond Fund is a market-leading liquid alternative fund launched in 2016 in Australia and managed by Legg Mason’s Fixed Income manager – Western Asset. It is also available on the BT Wrap, Hub24 Macquarie Wrap, Netwealth and Praemium.
Andy Sowerby, country head Legg Mason Australia and New Zealand said: “We are delighted to see a steady growth in investor demand for the Legg Mason Western Asset Macro Opportunities Bond strategy. This is the fastest growing strategy in the Legg Mason fixed income suite of products globally, with total assets recently surpassing A$10 billion.”
The strategy is run by Western Asset’s Chief Investment Officer, Ken Leech and Portfolio Manager, Prashant Chandran, with a focus on long-term value investing combined with active management of duration, yield curve and volatility. Since its inception in 2012, this strategy has been successfully tested in challenging markets — both up and down.
“This high conviction, unconstrained fixed-income strategy aims to provide investors the opportunity to generate returns in a slow-growth, low-rate environment. Idea generation reflects Western Asset’s long-term fundamental outlook based on the macro view of its global team of investment professionals,” noted Sowerby.
Key points:
- An opportunistic global-macro fixed income strategy that seeks to maximise total return via long-term value investing and active management of duration, yield curve while managing portfolio volatility
- Uses the global breadth of Western Asset’s investment platform; a fundamental value-oriented investment philosophy that combines top-down macroeconomic views with bottom-up fundamental research.
- The Legg Mason Western Asset Macro Opportunities Bond Fund has a ‘Recommended’ rating from Zenith Partners, and Lonsec rates the fund ‘Investment Grade’.
- In March, Legg Mason Western Asset was awarded the Morningstar Australia’s Fund Manager of the Year 2018: Fixed Income Category, Australia. The Morningstar awards assess a combination of qualitative research by its manager research analysts, risk-adjusted returns over the one, three and five-year periods and performance in the 2017 calendar year. This award follows Western Asset winning Zenith’s Australian Fixed Income Manager of the Year late last year and being nominated as a finalist in the Lonsec Australian Fixed Income Manager of the Year to be announced in May.