City Financial's Williams warns of losses on long-dated debt

City Financial Strategic Gilt fund manager Ian Williams has warned funds holding long-dated gilts and corporate bonds could face "sizeable" losses from mid-2010.

Williams, the Charteris Treasury Portfolio Managers CEO, says the UK faces major inflationary concerns beyond the middle of next year, as the full effect of the Bank of England's quantitative easing policy is felt.

The manager has positioned his Strategic Gilt portfolio on his strong inflation expectations, with the fund holding a large weighting in index-linked UK Government debt.

Williams' City Financial portfolio is second out of 27 funds in the IMA UK Gilts sector over one year to 20 April, up 13.7% against an average increase of 8.8%, according to Morningstar.

"As the inflationary consequences of QE kick in, the yield curve will spike and investors holding ultra longer-dated government bonds and longer-dated corporate bonds stand to lose sizeable money," he says.

"Corporate bonds are particularly vulnerable as there is little liquidity in the underlying assets."

Meanwhile, with the Government announcing a record £220bn debt issuance, Williams says the initial spike in yields has adjusted the price level more in line with this year's expected supply.

"The sub-prime disaster will lead to regulators telling banks to hold a much greater proportion of safer assets, such as gilts, and much less in possibly illiquid corporate bonds.

Categories: Investment | Fixed Income

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