Fixed Income

Amundi launches Global Short Term Bond Fund

London, UK, February 15, 2024 by Amundi

Amundi, the largest European asset manager^[1], launches the Amundi Funds Global Short Term Bond Fund (“the Fund”), an actively managed fund focused on short dated fixed income and money market instruments.

Market conditions offering conservative fixed income investors an attractive entry point

With significant repricing of nominal and real yields and a steep inversion of developed market yield curves, we believe that current market conditions offer conservative fixed income investors an attractive entry point not seen in nearly two decades. Amundi subscribes to the view that the global monetary policy tightening cycle is mostly behind us with many Central Banks leaning towards a “higher for longer” scenario. As such, we believe yields will remain well above their historical average for a prolonged period in order to tame persistent inflation. With increased geopolitical tensions and high economic uncertainty, short dated global fixed income can provide a low duration and volatility safe-haven while offering yields equivalent to longer dated tenures.

Fund philosophy

The Fund’s investment philosophy incorporates both a global top-down and bottom-up approach to identify opportunities across market cycles, using a proven investment process. The top-down macro process includes analyses of interest rates, credit spreads, and economic trends to identify geographic areas offering the best risk-adjusted income opportunities. The bottom-up approach uses fundamental and quantitative screening to select specific issuers and securities, paired with yield optimisation strategies.

Classified under SFDR as Article 8, the Fund aims to achieve an ESG score that is higher than the universe^[2]. This is achieved through sector exclusions, a ‘best-in-class’ approach that selects the highest rated ESG assets, and the use of Green, Social and Sustainable (GSS) bonds when possible.

The result is a diversified^[3] portfolio of predominantly investment grade short-dated bonds that seeks to achieve a combination of income and capital growth for conservative fixed income investors, while aiming to outperform the Bloomberg Global Aggregate 1-3 Year Total Return Index.

The Fund will be co-managed by Jacques Keller and Rajesh Puri, Portfolio Managers within the Global Fixed Income management team at Amundi (UK) Limited. They will be supported by the rest of the London-based Global Fixed Income team, with an average 20+ years of investment experience.

Amundi Fixed Income manages close to €597 billion in actively managed fixed income assets, with a broad range of expertise that spans all fixed income markets and a long standing track record of running conservative strategies^[4].

Grégoire Pesquès, CIO Global Fixed Income and Head of Aggregate Strategies at Amundi, said: “We are delighted to offer this latest addition to the Alpha Fixed Income family of products, capitalising on our team’s successful investment process across market cycles. With the yield on offer comparable to longer dated debt, now is an attractive time to invest in short dated fixed income.”

The Fund is currently registered in the following countries: France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Spain.

Footnotes

1. ^{^} [1]Source: IPE “Top 500 Asset Managers” published in June 2023, based on assets under management as at 31/12/2022
2. ^{^} [2] Please refer to the Amundi Responsible Investment Policy and the Amundi Sustainable Finance Disclosure Statement available at [https://about.amundi.com/legal-documentation] and For more product specific information, please refer to the Prospectus and the Fund’s Pre- contractual Document (PCD) available at https://www.amundi.lu/retail/product/view/LU2665725904. The decision of the investor to invest in the promoted fund should take into account all the characteristics or objectives of the fund.
3. ^{^} [3] “Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss”
4. ^{^} [4] Amundi data as at 31/12/2023