MLC has reshuffled the fund manager line-up in its debt securities strategy.
The manager changes are part of the firm’s MLC Horizon portfolios and the MLC Diversified Debt Fund.
The wealth manager, owned by National Australia Bank, said it terminated US managers BlackRock and Bridgewater Associates.
MLC added Deutsche Asset Management, Goldman Sachs JBWere Asset Management, Rogge Global Partners, Wellington Management Company, Amundi Asset Management and Franklin Templeton Investments to its list of debt investment managers.
New York managers Shenkman Capital Management and Stone Tower Capital were also put on MLC’s revised list of debt fund managers.
“These changes are designed to ensure our debt strategies provide diversification when our investors need it most – during periods of weak sharemarkets,” MLC Investment Management debt portfolio manager Stuart Piper said.
“These changes are intended to give us greater control over our exposure to interest rate and credit risk, more flexibility to respond to changes in market conditions and increased diversification and specialisation across our managers.”
Allocations to investment grade bonds and inflation-linked bonds will be strategic and represent a permanent part of the debt strategies.
Non-investment grade bonds will be opportunistic in nature and MLC will invest relatively small allocations in these when it believes the expected returns appropriately compensate for risks.
MLC has over $85 billion in funds under management.
