Multi-affiliate manager Legg Mason Asset Management has launched its first locally domiciled trusts for US-based value manager Brandywine Global Investment Management.
Brandywine is offering from this week two global fixed interest funds, both of which have active currency management, and a global equities fund. The two fixed interest funds are the ‘Global Fixed Interest Trust’, which invests in sovereign bonds, investment grade credit and mortgage-backed securities and the ‘Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Trust’, which invests in the same as well as emerging market and high-yield debt on an opportunistic basis. The ‘Global Value Equity Trust’ will invest in both developed and emerging markets, using a mix of quantitative and fundamental analysis. Apart from its value style across bonds and equities, Brandywine is noted for having fairly concentrated portfolios. The global equity fund is high conviction, investing in about 75 names in 48 countries, including up to 15 per cent in emerging markets. The firm, which was founded in 1986, has been investing in global equities since 1993. Kimon Kouryialas, Legg Mason Australia’s head of distribution, said Brandywine had already attracted interest from Australian investors, being awarded discrete mandates in both equities and fixed interest over the past three years. One of the firm’s SRI funds, another area of specialty, is also on the AMP Future Directions trust.
There is one investment area where Insignia’s $180 billion super arm has not lost money for the past 17 years, which is what it calls the insurance-related investments. The alternatives strategy is gaining popularity among asset owners due to its diversification benefit, but Insignia’s super and asset management investment chief Dan Farmer warns it is a space where investors can suffer if they “stumble in without doing the homework”.
Darcy SongJanuary 23, 2025
