Talking factsheet: Global Flexible Bond Strategy

Ariel Bezalel gives an overview of Jupiter’s global flexible bond strategy, how the investment process works, and how the team seek to generate alpha. 

Flexible, active and unconstrained fixed income

The Jupiter Dynamic Bond fund is a ‘go anywhere,’ high-conviction fund, meaning the managers are able to seek out the best opportunities within the fixed interest universe on a global basis while carefully managing downside risk.

Experienced, diversified

The large and highly experienced fund management team led by Ariel Bezalel, Head of Strategy, Fixed Income, and Harry Richards, Fund Manager, are constantly assessing the dynamics of global fixed income markets, managing risk in the portfolio through adjustments to asset allocation, security selection and duration management. The result is a flexible and highly diversified, global, unconstrained bond fund that can be the cornerstone of an investor’s fixed income allocation.

Go anywhere approach
The fund managers aim to deliver returns for investors through a range of market conditions by diversifying across different types of debt and across the credit spectrum. As a ‘go anywhere’ bond fund, the team have the freedom to seek the best opportunities in the global fixed income universe. The team is structured to be able to react quickly to new ideas and changing market circumstances rather than having to go through investment committees.

No benchmark

The unconstrained approach means that investors are not tied to a benchmark, as the fund shifts between government, investment grade and high yield bonds. It also has access to more complex assets such as derivatives (which are primarily used to mitigate risk), contingent capital and emerging market debt.
Diversification potential
The ability of the fund managers to balance the portfolio between different subsectors of the fixed income universe can allow the fund to perform through a range of market conditions. Fixed income assets can act as a diversifier to investments in equities as the asset classes typically exhibit relatively low correlation to one another. The income stream from bonds may be more consistent than that provided by shares due to the defined nature of coupon payments. Furthermore, bonds can offer a means of providing an income above the interest rates available on savings accounts.
Investment philosophy
The team aims to maintain a balance between macro and credit risk. Long-term fundamental research underpins the active views. The team has an unconstrained investment approach and an emphasis on special themes. They favour credits with a clear commitment to de-leveraging and aim to identify and manage downside risk.

Credit research for ESG

The team ensures credit research captures environmental, social and governmental risks and opportunities. They also use access to management to highlight ESG issues.

Active interest rate risk management

The possibility to flexibly alter the portfolio duration of the fund provides the managers with an additional lever to cushion portfolio risk or even to benefit from changes in interest rates.

Meet the team

Jupiter Fixed Income Team

Investors in the fund can benefit from the expertise and experience of our fund managers and credit analysts, who optimise exposure to all parts of the global bond market in any environment. The team is headed by Ariel Bezalel, Head of Strategy, Fixed Income, who has over 20 years of experience in sovereign and credit markets, along with Fund Manager Harry Richards, Fund Manager Vikram Aggarwal, a team of dedicated credit analysts led by Luca Evangelisti, Head of Credit Research, with additional expertise provided by Huw Davies, Investment Director, Fixed Income. The whole team is based in London, with the single location fostering strong team interaction, communication, and agility of active fund management.

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Please note

 Market and exchange rate movements can cause the value of an investment to fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than originally invested. The views expressed are those of the individuals mentioned at the time of writing, are not necessarily those of Jupiter as a whole, and may be subject to change. This is particularly true during periods of rapidly changing market circumstances. 20451

Jupiter Dynamic Bond
The fund can invest a significant portion of the portfolio in high yield and non-rated bonds. These bonds may offer a higher income but carry a greater risk of default, particularly in volatile markets. Quarterly income payments will fluctuate. In difficult market conditions, it may be harder for the manager to sell assets at the quoted price, which could have a negative impact on performance. In extreme market conditions, the fund’s ability to meet redemption requests on demand may be affected. Some share classes charge all of their expenses to capital, which can reduce the potential for capital growth. Please see the Prospectus for information. The KIID and Prospectus are available from Jupiter on request. This fund can invest more than 35% of its value in securities issued or guaranteed by an EEA state. The sub fund(s) may be subject to various other risk factors, please refer to the Prospectus for further information.