Man GLG's Mawby: Investors in 'mishmash' strategic bond sector set for disappointment

Managers not meeting investors' expectations

Manager of the Man GLG Strategic Bond fund Jon Mawby has criticised peers in the Investment Association's Sterling Strategic Bond sector for failing to manage assets in a way consistent with investor expectations, adding investors in some of the sector's funds will be left "disappointed" when the bull market comes to an end.

Mawby said funds in the sector are largely unconstrained in their investment approach, but there are only one or two funds that are "truly unconstrained", while the rest mainly have "an inherent bias".  According to the Investment Association's definition, funds in the sector can invest across the fixed income spectrum with no prescription within the non-core parameters. Mawby explained, however, that managers were all largely backing the same areas: "What tends to happen is managers use their unconstrained mandate to take big off-benchmark bets that are very sector-concentrated, driv...