Janus set to unveil first global bond mandates

Janus Capital is launching its first two global bond funds, focusing on investment grade and high yield.

The Global Investment Grade Bond fund will invest primarily in fixed or floating rate bonds of issuers anywhere in the world.

It will have between 150 and 300 holdings and use the Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Corporate Bond index as its benchmark. Asset allocation will be around 40% in non-US bonds, with up to 25% below investment grade in B-rated or high yield securities.

Meanwhile, the Global High-Yield fund will focus on debt securities or preferred stock of issuers, which are rated either below investment grade or, if unrated are of a similar quality, to below investment grade.

The fund has 100-250 holdings and will be benchmarked against the Barclays Capital Global High Yield index. It will invest approximately 50% non-US bonds.

Both funds will have a tracking error range to benchmark of 250-500bp per annum.

The Dublin-domiciled funds will be co-managed by Gibson Smith, Janus co-CIO, and Darrell Watters. Smith and Watters, who run all the firm’s fixed income strategies, will be supported by the fixed income research team based in Denver and London.

Smith said: “Our bottom-up, fundamentally driven investment process with a focus on credit selection is in contrast, but complementary to, most other fixed income managers who typically take a more macro, top-down approach.

“This process is enhanced by our integrated fixed income equity research model, which allows us to analyse a business in its entirety and to make better-informed investment decisions.”

The minimum investment for the retail share classes is $2,500 and €2,500.