Barings has converted its Global Bond Trust into a strategic bond fund and taken manager Alan Wilde off the vehicle in favour of Guy Dunham and Richard Balfour.
The £91.6m Baring Global Bond Trust has been renamed the Baring Strategic Bond fund and will be run by Mr Dunham, who joined the group in May as head of global aggregate, and Richard Balfour. Mr Wilde will continue to run the $96.9m (£62.9m) Baring International Bond fund.
The Global Bond Trust’s 7.2 per cent return in 2014 underperformed its composite index of 50 per cent FTSE All Share and 50 per cent Citigroup World Government Bond index, which rose 9.4 per cent, according to the group’s factsheet.
The three-year annualised returns of 2.7 per cent just outperform the benchmark but the five-year anualised returns of 4.1 per cent are below the 5.2 per cent for the benchmark, the group’s factsheet said.
Rod Aldridge, head of UK wholesale, said: “The low interest rate environment and wider market volatility is driving significant demand from investors for more flexible fixed income products that are able to generate strong and consistent returns.”
