Jonathan Miller: Welcome to the Morningstar Manager Check-Up where this week it's about some new funds we've recently added to our coverage. Starting with Capital Group New Perspective Fund which comes straight in at Gold. This fund was launched in October 2015, but it's U.S. sibling has built an impressive multi decade history. Our analyst team State side has been following this strategy for years. So, we've leveraged on their research for this fund.
The managers see growth across the globe and aim to profit from changes in global trade patterns. A number of individuals are involved in running sleeves of the portfolio which allows each person to play to his or her strengths. Managers have a history of turning to stay at a group all the way through to retirement. So, we also identify a sense of stability. Their proven ability and the fund's competitive pricing are further positives for us.
Next up is the First State Asia Focus Fund which is only launched in August 2015. But has a Gold rating. The manager Martin Lau stands out as a proven China and Asian investor across other funds he runs. For this Asia focus fund he's got the flexibility to invest 20% outside the Asia Pacific region. With around £70 million in assets and fairly competitive fees compared with peers. We see this as an attractive way to access Lau's skills. He's backed by a team of 17 analysts who apply tried and tested bottom up stock selection process, which looks for quality companies that deliver sustainable growth at attractive valuations. The consumption theme is evident in the portfolio with meaningful exposure to the IT and consumer sectors.
What you tend to see with Lau's approach is lower volatility than the index and resilience on the downside. We're confident this will stay true paving the way for long-term outperformance.
Finally, we have the Legg Mason Brandywine Global Opportunistic Bond Fund, managed by veteran investors Steve Smith and David Hoffman. This fund has been assigned a Morningstar analyst rating of Silver. Their philosophy disregards indices that are weighted according to the underlying issuer. Instead they identified high real yields and currencies in countries with strong or improving fundamentals. The focus here is on sovereign debt with some flexibility outside this area.
But given their process, their significant exposure to emerging markets and little in low yielding developed markets. The duo will also adjust their duration as the macro outlook shifts. This creates higher volatility than global bond peers. So, for patient investor who praise long-term returns over short term downside protection this fund is a compelling choice.
