Core Corporate Bond Fund
The Fund aims to provide income and capital growth and to target an overall return in excess of that achieved by the iBoxx GBP Corporate Bond Index (the benchmark index) over a rolling 3 year period.
The Fund will invest primarily in investment grade corporate bonds (which are like loans that can pay a fixed or variable interest rate) that are priced in sterling or in other currencies which are then hedged back to sterling.
The bond ratings are determined by international agencies that provide such ratings. Although the Fund will invest primarily in investment grade bonds, it can also invest up to 20% of its value in non-investment grade (higher yielding) bonds, government bonds or asset backed securities. Non-investment grade bonds, whilst potentially producing a higher level of income than investment grade bonds, are considered to be higher risk. Asset back securities are bonds linked to assets which provide some security on the investment. Examples of these are securities which are backed by mortgages on residential and commercial property, loans on automobiles and loans to small or medium sized businesses.
“Interest rate duration” indicates how price sensitive a bond is to changes in interest rate; the longer a bond’s duration, the more sensitive its price is likely to be to changing interest rates. The average duration of the Fund’s portfolio as a whole will be within two years (plus or minus) of the benchmark index.
The Fund will aim to reduce the effect of exchange rate movements in the underlying investments relative to the base currency of the Fund. However, these hedging techniques may not be fully effective in completely removing the exchange rate risk.
The Fund will only use derivatives for the purposes of efficient portfolio management, with the aim of managing risk and cost.
