Launch of Perpetua SCI Flexible Fixed Interest Fund

Pooja Tanna

Portfolio Manager

Launch of Perpetua SCI Flexible Fixed Interest Fund 

Perpetua Investment Managers has expanded its investment product offering to include standalone fixed income funds effective March 2024, with the launch of the Perpetua SCI Flexible Fixed Interest Fund.  The Fund will fall under the ASISA South African: Interest Bearing – Variable Term fund category.

 

With high yields influencing markets globally, contributing not only to income generation but also to capital growth, the launch of this fund comes at an opportune time given prevailing market conditions, as well as in terms of the lifecycle of the firm at large.

 

Following the appointment of Pooja Tanna as Head of Fixed Income in July 2023, Perpetua expanded its dedicated fixed income capacity with a view to establishing a fully-fledged fixed income capability alongside the firm’s well established domestic equity, global equity, and multi-asset products.  Tanna has 18 years of relevant investment experience and most notably this includes investing in instruments such as structured notes, currency hedges and swaps, in addition to traditional fixed income instruments.

 

While the standalone fixed income funds are a new product offering within the Perpetua investment range, managing fixed income assets is not new to Perpetua.  The firm has been managing fixed income assets within its balanced fund portfolios for more than ten years and is now at a point in its product lifecycle where there is scope to offer clients access to its expertise in this asset class through standalone funds, beginning with the launch of the Perpetua SCI Flexible Fixed Interest Fund. This offering will also be available in segregated account form to institutional investors, alongside it’s Enhanced Cash and Domestic Bond strategies. It is envisaged that the latter strategies will also be launched in collective investment scheme form during 2024.

Key features of the fund

Investment approach underlying the fund 

Key defining features of the entire Perpetua investment stable are actively managed strategies approached with an absolute risk mindset incorporating thoughtful diversification and responsible investment principles.  The Perpetua SCI Flexible Fixed Interest Fund (“the Fund”) operates squarely within this vein. 

The Fund integrates top-down macro analysis and bottom-up fundamental research, with the objective of optimising risk-adjusted returns. It seeks to differentiate itself from traditional flexible fixed income investing approaches by leveraging innovative strategies such as:

  • Tactical sector and geographic allocation
  • Active duration management to mitigate interest rate risk
  • Laddering bonds in order to spread interest rate risk and maturity dates
  • Derivatives and currency hedging

These elements are combined with rigorously determined market insights. The Fund targets a return of ALBI + 2%.

As described in the name, the Fund’s investment universe comprises the entire range of fixed income instruments, including government bonds, corporate and bank credit, structured notes, derivatives, cash and money market instruments. The Fund accesses both the local and global market through its tactical allocation process, leveraging off the depth of the multi-asset class and multi-geography skills within the firm. Given the global exposure, currency exposure is monitored closely and the use of currency hedges is employed.

Central to the Perpetua fixed income investment approach is risk management through diversification.  The team’s depth of knowledge of derivatives lends a unique lens to what we view as our fixed income universe and allows us to leverage off a wider set of instruments (over and above traditional bonds and credit). This diversified approach not only enhances the potential for alpha generation, but also mitigates specific risks inherent in individual securities.

Performance track record and sgnature

Perpetua has achieved the following returns within the fixed income component of its Balanced Funds over the past 1- and 3-year periods compared to the ALBI:

The Fund has a conservative risk profile and targets a lower modified duration and lower volatility compared to the ALBI yet solves for a higher return. At present the weighted yield is 11.7%, however this will naturally fluctuate with market movements. The fund currently offers real returns similar to long term balanced fund objectives with significantly lower risk. With a dual target of capital growth and income generation over the short to medium time horizon, the Fund is ideally suited to living annuity holders, and represents a core strategy that should be utilised by both institutional and retail investors.

How to invest

The Perpetua SCI Flexible Fixed Interest Fund is currently available via Perpetua’s Collective Investment Scheme management company, Sanlam Collective Investment Schemes, and it will be added to major investment platforms over the coming months.

 

Investors who wish to find out more about this Fund or institutional investors who would like to access this strategy as a segregated mandate may request further information by sending an email to clients@perpetua.co.za or contact Perpetua’s Head of Clients, Kevin Dantu at kevind@perpetua.co.za.

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