Loomis opens global bond fund to Aussie investors

US investment firm Loomis, Sayles & Company, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, has today announced it will for the first time open its global bond fund to Australian wholesale investors.

The fund is primarily invested in a broad universe of investment-grade global fixed income securities, and is hedged to the Australian dollar.

Investors in the newly launched fund are promised “diversified opportunities in fixed income with expected sources of excess return in credit, currency, and duration”.

The Global Bond Fund, Loomis said, effectively replicates the strategy of its Global Aggregate Bond (Australian dollar hedged) composite.

Since its inception in 1998, and as calculated to 31 March 2024, the composite has delivered a net return of 1.06% per annum above its benchmark, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, hedged to AUD.

The Global Bond Fund is jointly managed by Loomis Sayles’ co-heads of global fixed income Lynda Schweitzer, Scott Service, and David Rolley, who serves as portfolio manager.

Schweitzer boasts that the now four-decade-old Aggregate Bond fund has “been well-tested to deliver long-term sustainable returns”, including through a number of economically challenging events such as the dot com boom and bust, the GFC and the Covid pandemic.

The investment team’s “discipline, diligence and experience”, she added, “gives us the confidence to be opportunistic and aggressive when bond markets are in dislocation to find great value for our clients”.

Natixis Investment Managers country head Australia and New Zealand Louise Watson noted that the strategy remains among the most popular and successful among its institutional clients.

“[Loomis has] a long and impressive record of delivering fixed income solutions that have met our clients’ investment objectives, without taking excessive risk.”

Given persistent volatility in global markets and uncertainty in the geopolitical landscape, Watson said that actively managed fixed income solutions will remain in high demand.