Omnis Investment appoints new managers for its Global Bond and Strategic Bond funds.
Omnis Investments, part of The Openwork Partnership, today announces the appointment of new fund managers for two of its bond funds. The changes reflect the firm’s increased commitment to providing a global reach of fixed income assets in its discretionary portfolios.
The firm will appoint T. Rowe Price to manage the segregated mandate of the Omnis Strategic Bond Fund, and L&G to manage the segregated mandate of the Omnis Global Bond Fund.
The Omnis Strategic Bond Fund, with AUM of £431 million, comprises an investment mix of government bonds, investment grade corporate bonds, and high-yield bonds, hedged back to Sterling. The fund is free to invest tactically in areas of the bond market that offer the most value. T. Rowe Price brings long-established fixed income expertise to the management of the Omnis Strategic Bond Fund. The asset manager was selected for its strong organisational support and well-resourced global credit research platform.
The Omnis Global Bond Fund, with AUM of £593 million, invests across all sub-asset classes of global fixed income exposure in local currencies. The investment strategy is economically led with strong risk controls and active duration positioning. L&G was selected to manage the fund due to its robust top-down approach and risk management process.
Omnis Investments carefully selects managers for its funds and has access to both publicly available strategies, and exclusive mandates. As the Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) of the Omnis funds, all mandates are bespoke to Omnis Investments, ensuring they meet the risk and asset allocation requirements of clients.
During the selection process, Omnis Investments carefully evaluated a diverse range of managers for each fund.
Andrew Summers, Chief Investment Officer, Omnis Investments, said: “We are committed to increasing global reach in our portfolios, in line with our strategic asset allocation, and our selection process ensures we have the very best investment managers in each asset class. The decision to appoint new managers to these funds was based on a forward-looking assessment, identifying those best positioned to deliver sustained outperformance. Our in-depth selection process relies on our low fund-to-analyst ratio, which prevents the quantitative short-cuts that plague so much of the industry and lead to past performance chasing that could risk long-term underperformance.
“We have conviction in the active investment approaches of both of these managers and are confident in their ability to achieve fund objectives.”
T. Rowe Price’s Ken Orchard, Co-Portfolio Manager of the Omnis Strategic Bond Fund, said: “We have worked with Omnis to develop a customised strategy which will give their clients access to a truly global and diversified fixed income portfolio—spanning 15 sectors, over 80 countries, and more than 40 currencies. Backed by the deep expertise of T. Rowe Price’s 240 investment professionals and over 50 years of experience, our flexible, unconstrained bond strategy is designed to adapt to changing market conditions and uncover opportunities across the full spectrum of global fixed income.”
Ben Cherrington, Head of UK Wholesale, L&G, said: “Our experienced team of fixed income investors have navigated multiple market cycles and are well placed for identifying opportunities across international markets. Through our partnership with Omnis Investments, we aim to support its mission of generating value for investors.”
The funds are available to clients of The Openwork Partnership and 2plan wealth management through discretionary portfolios run by Omnis Investments. The Omnis Managed Portfolio Service (OMPS) provides clients with a suite of actively managed portfolios investing in Omnis’ funds, that are themselves run by third-party investment managers appointed independently by Omnis Investments. The funds are also available for allocation in the Omnis Agility portfolios, which provides clients with a suite of actively managed portfolios designed to help achieve specific financial goals. Omnis Agility combines actively managed Omnis funds with carefully selected Exchange Traded Funds that give clients access to diversified investment opportunities.
