We have composed this exposure via Stewart Asia Pacific Sustainability, Schroder Asian Total Return and JPM Emerging Markets funds. Each of these funds warrant inclusion on a standalone basis, but importantly they also aggregate well together to give a blended exposure to the regions.
We take a managed approach to our fixed-income exposure rather than outsourcing too much to strategic bond funds. We benefitted in 2020 from targeting sovereign debt, particularly from the US where there was more yield compression possible. We then trimmed some of these positions as we looked to manage our duration exposure in a very dynamic market environment, while shifting the “tail-risk” focus to inflation linked bonds in the US. These themes are primarily implemented through targeted passive vehicles focusing on a market segment or maturity profile.
In keeping with our “go anywhere” approach, we retain the ability to buy Investment Trusts where we consider them to be appropriate. Infrastructure assets are inherently long duration assets, often with forecastable revenue streams and inflation linkage to them. We currently hold two trusts in this space, International Public Partnerships (INPP) and The Renewable Infrastructure Group (TRIG). The former invests in public or social infrastructure assets and the latter those generating renewable energy. Crucially, the investment vehicle structure matches the liquidity profile of the underlying investments.
The key theme behind the Charles Stanley Blended MPS range is that we are agnostic in how we construct the portfolios and implement investment ideas in order to bring your clients the very best of Charles Stanley’s investment expertise via one centralised solution.
For those that prefer a unitised solution, the same strategy is run as a range of OEICs under the Charles Stanley Multi Asset Fund umbrella.
Contact us to find out more about our Managed Portfolio Services and how they could enhance your offering.
020 4502 7218
ist@charles-stanley.co.uk
www.charles-stanley.co.uk/blended-managed-portfolios
Chris Ainscough, Director of Asset Management, Charles Stanley
Chris joined Charles Stanley in 2014 and has worked across both our actively and passively implemented strategies. He now heads up our structure agnostic solutions, including the Blended MPS and Charles Stanley Multi Asset OEICs, where he invests across a broad investment universe from direct equity and fixed income through to active and passive collective vehicles.
Chris takes an unconstrained approach to investing, in terms of both securities used to implement an investment theme and the geographies/sectors contained in the investment universe. He is supported by the Asset Management and Research Teams, with a centralised and collegiate approach to investment management.
