Sanlam FOUR has made the unusual move of selling its strategic bond fund and business following the departure of the portfolio’s managers Craig Veysey and Francois Kotze.
Sanlam Strategic Bond has been acquired by Man GLG, Man Group’s investment management arm, where the two managers are moving to. While most manager departures see the fund staying in place and suffering outflows, the firm said that selling it and keeping it under its current managers is in clients’ best interests.
Sanlam UK chief executive officer Jonathan Polin said: “Our absolute priority is the safe stewardship of our clients’ assets and it is in their best interests to see the fund transition smoothly to Man GLG where it will be managed by the same team, to the same strategy and with the same process, methodologies and tools.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Over the past two years we invested significant time and resources to marketing the fund successfully within the wealth management market, securing early adopters and substantial new fund flows.”
Veysey is an FE Alpha Manager and has run the Sanlam Strategic Bond fund since its launch in 2012 with Kotze joining as assistant portfolio manager last year. Both managers will continue to run the five FE Crown-rated strategy at Man GLG with the same approach, philosophy and process.
The strategy looks to identify attractively-valued corporate and government bond opportunities on a global scale and is complemented by a macroeconomic overlay. Sanlam FOUR had been successful in promoting the fund, with its assets growing from around £80m at the start of 2017 to £291.6m today.
Since launch, Sanlam Strategic Bond has gained 57.61 per cent, compared to its average IA Sterling Strategic Bond peer’s 32.91 per cent, while it is also top quartile over one, three and five years.
Performance of fund vs sector since launch
Source: FE Analytics
Man GLG chief executive officer Teun Johnston said: “We are delighted to welcome Craig and Francois to Man GLG. Craig is a seasoned bond portfolio manager who, along with Francois, has developed a rigorous, repeatable investment process, which we believe offers a compelling proposition for our clients.
“We have a successful track record of hiring and integrating exceptional senior level talent and investment teams at Man GLG and believe Craig and Francois’ expertise will be highly additive to our existing strategic bond offering and to Man GLG’s overall fixed income platform.”