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Workshop Details
AXA Investment Managers | Short Duration Delivers as a High Conviction Active Credit Strategy
As a short duration strategy seeks to constrain a portfolio’s average duration it essentially allows a reallocation of risk budget from active duration to active credit. During a period of rising interest rates or high interest rate volatility, an active short duration portfolio may generate stable and competitive total returns. With volatile term premium replaced by higher yielding credits an effective and efficient trade-off is accomplished. While long duration bonds reprice sharply based on difficult to forecast macro and technical factors, short duration credit tends to maintain price stability. Since a bond will repay at par as long as there is no default, it takes a significant idiosyncratic event to move the price of a high yielding short duration bond. Short duration credit bonds provide skilled active credit teams better visibility into their funding requirements, access to liquidity, competitive risk, regulatory hurdles and earnings capacity, which greatly mitigates default risk and allows for higher conviction positioning. This is one of the main reasons short duration credit funds have such favorable up capture to down capture ratios making them an essential consideration when choosing a total return bond strategy.
Workshop Host:
Jim Veneau, Head of Fixed Income, Asia, AXA Investment Managers
BlackRock | Navigating the private credit boom: Uncover the next big opportunity
Private credit has claimed a larger space in HNWIs’ portfolios in recent years as investors looking for reliable and higher income streams, portfolio diversification, and opportunities from market dislocation increase their exposure to the asset class. As late-stage economic cycle dynamics begin to manifest, what risks and opportunities exist today in private credit? In this workshop, we will provide an overview of the spectrum of private credit opportunities and highlight which areas of private credit we favour in today’s market environment, with a particular focus on US direct lending and Asian private credit.
Workshop Hosts:
Alex Vaulkhard, Director and Product Strategist for Global Credit Platform, BlackRock
Vincent So, Managing Director, BlackRock Alternatives Specialists
BNY Mellon | Seeking stable income in uncertain times
A shrinking high yield universe offset by renewed volatility, unsustainable business models, and disruptive markets challenge today’s investors. Political dynamics in the US and Europe are also expected to be significant over the next two years — so how will this affect high yield? In today’s session, Insight’s short-dated high yield manager, Uli Gerhard, will discuss the importance of stock-picking against a backdrop of wider issuer performance dispersion and uncertain market forces, and how this approach can potentially generate stable levels of income for investors.
Workshop Host:
Uli Gerhard, Senior Portfolio Manager – High Yield, BNY Mellon
Capital Group | ESG: A natural ally of long-term investing
ESG provides an important framework for assessing the long-term sustainability of investments and underpins effective engagement with portfolio companies. However, incorporating ESG factors into portfolio analysis is complex and nuanced. For clients, it can be confusing as there are no global disclosure standards or definitions and ESG ratings are unable to fully capture nuances in a single score. ESG rating providers, for example, employ different methods, which can lead to conflicting views even within the same company. There are no short cuts in ESG — rigorous fundamental analysis along with active stewardship are the two key pillars of ESG integration.
In this workshop, Natasha Braginsky Mounier, ESG Investment Director at Capital Group, will discuss the changing landscape of ESG investing and why ESG integration is a natural ally for long-term investors.
Workshop Host:
Natasha Braginsky Mounier, ESG Investment Director, Capital Group
Fidelity International | Fidelity’s multi-asset franchise: Relevant solutions for today’s markets
Fidelity has provided multi-asset solutions since the 1980s, during which time we have enhanced our platform and investment process to offer clients access to a wide range of diversified income streams and asset classes across various geographies (from traditional equities to REITs, to Asia Pacific as well as Greater China assets) and in niche areas (like alternative infrastructure investments to developing markets such as EM debt or China HY). Our evergreen multi-asset offering is overlaid by a proven decision-making framework. This differentiated approach includes allocation to uncorrelated assets, and the fine-tuning of portfolio exposures via the selective employment of derivative overlays at various critical points over a cycle. This unique and proven approach has allowed us to assist our investors in reaching their investment goals. We now manage close to US$40.9 billion in multi-asset solutions globally (as of February 2019).
Workshop Host:
George Efstathapoulos, Portfolio Manager, Fidelity International
Hermes Investment Management | Achieving impact through engagement in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals
Hermes Investment Management is a leading proponent of investments in which ESG considerations are fully integrated. It has taken this a step further by launching a strategy that engages with investee companies to make enhancements to their businesses that also help make progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This workshop will cover the practical aspects of developing and running successful engagement programmes and integrating these into the investment process.
Workshop Host:
Hamish Galpin, Director, Head of Small & Mid Cap, Lead Manager of Global Small Cap, Hermes Investment Management
HSBC Global Asset Management | The dragon enters: Is the inclusion of Chinese bonds in the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index a tipping point for global investors?
Domestic RMB bonds entered the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index on 1 April, thus moving into the mainstream of the investible bond universe. What are global investors doing about this and what are the pros and cons of following the index inclusion? Join us as we discuss the investment implications, the opportunities and risks in the Chinese bond market, and how Chinese bonds could help boost the characteristics of client portfolios.
Workshop Host:
Geoffrey Lunt, Director, Senior Product Specialist for Asian Fixed Income, HSBC Global Asset Management
Matthews Asia | Tapping Asia’s and China’s small-cap potential
Innovation, urbanisation, and the rising purchasing power of middle class consumers — these are just some of the driving forces behind the growth of small companies in the region today. Many small companies in Asia tend to focus on domestic markets, potentially insulating them from global macro concerns such as trade conflicts. Within Asia and particularly in China, the universe of small companies is rapidly expanding, generating many attractive investment opportunities. In this workshop, portfolio manager Lydia So explains how investors can benefit from allocating to Asia and China small-cap equities, and how this asset class can be positioned within a client’s overall investment portfolio.
Workshop Host:
Lydia So, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Matthews Asia
Pictet Asset Management | Integrating ESG factors in emerging sovereign debt investing
Pictet Asset Management believes emerging economies could benefit from improving ESG factors in the long term and that asset managers need to determine when ESG factors will be meaningful drivers of asset prices in the short term. As an industry, we are developing sovereign stewardship collaborations and have encouraged sovereign issuers to enhance ESG performance by engaging with policymakers and educating them on ESG issues as we endeavour to find the social value in managing assets.
Workshop Host:
Philippe Petit, Co-Lead & Senior Investment Manager, USD Emerging Debt, Pictet Asset Management
Value Partners Limited | China opportunities: Inclusion, innovation and valuations
The year-to-date equity rally has reignited interest in risk assets and emerging markets, particularly China. While the momentum witnessed so far in 2019 has predominantly been driven by liquidity, underneath the strong uptick in fortunes is a set of compelling, long-term drivers that investors cannot ignore.
In this workshop, we will take a deep dive into three of the most significant factors that we believe will shape the future of investing in China — MSCI A-share inclusion, the growth of innovation, and attractive valuations. By understanding the intricacies of these key topics, we aim to provide investors with a clearer picture of the long-term investment potential of the region.
Workshop Host:
Glenda Hsia, Senior Fund Manager, Value Partners Limited
