An excellent first year for RLAM's "best ideas" bond fund - the Royal London Strategic Bond Trust
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
The Royal London UK Strategic Bond Trust has enjoyed a very strong first year since it launched on 29th September 2006, achieving its outperformance target of 2.5% in excess of the iBoxx Sterling Non-Gilts All Maturities Index benchmark*.
Managed by Dr Paul Doran, Head of Derivatives, and Eric Holt, Head of Credit, the fund leverages the wider bond expertise of RLAM's award winning fixed income team, to distil their "best ideas" into an aggressively managed bond fund.
The fund seeks to achieve a total return through income and capital enhancement opportunities over the medium to long term. Holding between 40-60 stocks, the fund is more concentrated than RLAM's traditional bond funds. Around 90% of the fund is invested in conventional fixed income stocks, with up to 10% allocated to high yielding, "bond like" equities. Credit and equity derivatives are also used to manage the fund's overall duration, mitigate risk exposure and enhance returns.
Head of Sales, Stan Bland commented:
"Paul and Eric have done a great job managing the Fund over the past year, combining their strong stock selection skills and controlled use of derivative instruments to deliver excellent returns. This is a fund that appeals to both Wholesale and Institutional investors as a high performing part of a wider bond allocation".
Dr Paul Doran added:
"Eric and I have been very pleased with the Fund's strong performance over the past 12 months as we see this as a true test of our best ideas in bonds. Looking ahead, we will continue to concentrate on what we are good at – buying bonds that we think will give strong risk adjusted returns and making full use of UCITS III rules to add value and mitigate risks through derivative instruments."
*Source: RLAM, 29/09/06 to 28/09/07, gross of standard Wholesale fees.
Information about past performance is not a guide to future performance.
-ENDS-
For further information:
Stephen Watchorn
Marketing and Communications Manager
Royal London Asset Management
020 7506 6500
John Fryer
Polhill Communications
0207 655 0500
Editor's notes
Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) was established in 1988 and specialises in providing investment management solutions for both the Royal London Group and a range of external institutions. These include FTSE 250 companies, local authorities, universities, charities, wealth managers, financial advisers and private clients. RLAM manages over £32.34bn of assets, employing more than 50 experienced investment professionals in our London based office.
Royal London Groupis a specialist financial service provider. Its businesses focus
on those sectors of the market which value premium propositions, operating through
a number of brands:
Scottish Life - UK pensions market
Bright Grey - UK protection market
Scottish Life International - offshore investment markets
RLAM - fund management
RLAS - life and pensions administration
Royal London is one of the stronger life and pension companies in the UK and has a particularly strong track record for with profits performance.
Royal London is the largest mutual life and pensions company in the UK with Group funds under management of £32.7bn. Group businesses serve around three million customers and employ 2,570 people.
(Figures quoted are as at 30 June 2007)
Source:rlam as at 31st October 2007, unless otherwise stated.
rlam is a marketing brand including the following companies:Royal London Asset Management Limited registered in England & Wales number 2244297; Financial Services Authority (FSA) register number 141665.Royal London Pooled Pensions Company Limited registered in Scotland number SC048729; FSA register number 110456.Royal London Unit Trust Managers Limited registered in England & Wales number 2372439; FSA register number 144037.All of the above are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. It also includes Royal London Asset Management Bond Funds Plc registered in Ireland number 364259 and regulated by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA).
All these companies are subsidiaries of The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited registered in England and Wales number 00099064.Head office:55 Gracechurch Street, London EC3V 0RL.
Our reference: 524-PR/PROF-10/2007-SW