Objective
The fund aims to provide income and capital growth.
Investment policy and strategy
Core investment: At least 70% of the fund is invested in investment grade (high-quality) bonds issued by governments, or are guaranteed by governments, from anywhere in the world.
Other investments: The fund also invests in bonds with a lower credit rating than investment grade issued by governments, or are guaranteed by governments. In addition, it may hold cash or assets that can be turned into cash quickly.
Use of derivatives: Derivatives may be used to invest indirectly in bonds, to reduce risks and costs and to manage the impact of changes in currency exchange rates on the fund’s investments.
Strategy in brief: The fund manager selects investments based on an assessment of macroeconomic factors such as economic growth, interest rates and inflation.
This analysis determines the individual government bonds from different countries in which the manager believes the fund should invest in order to achieve its objective. It also influences the currencies to which the fund will be exposed. The manager is assisted in the selection of individual government bonds by the deputy fund manager and an in-house team of analysts. The fund is diversified by investing in a range of government bonds from across the globe.
Glossary terms
Bonds: Loans to governments and companies that pay interest.
Derivatives: Financial contracts whose value is derived from other assets.
Risks associated with the fund
The value and income from the fund's assets will go down as well as up. This will cause the value of your investment to fall as well as rise. There is no guarantee that the fund will achieve its objective and you may get back less than you originally invested.
The fund can be exposed to different currencies. Movements in currency exchange rates may adversely affect the value of your investment.
The fund may use derivatives to profit from an expected rise or fall in the value of an asset. Should the asset's value vary in an unexpected way, the fund may lose as much as or more than the amount invested.
Investments in bonds are affected by interest rates, inflation and credit ratings. It is possible that bond issuers will not pay interest or return the capital. All of these events can reduce the value of bonds held by the fund.
Investing in emerging markets involves a greater risk of loss due to greater political, tax, economic, foreign exchange, liquidity and regulatory risks, among other factors. There may be difficulties in buying, selling, safekeeping or valuing investments in such countries.
In exceptional circumstances where assets cannot be fairly valued, or have to be sold at a large discount to raise cash, we may temporarily suspend the fund in the best interest of all investors.
The fund could lose money if a counterparty with which it does business becomes unwilling or unable to repay money owed to the fund.
Further details of the risks that apply to the fund can be found in the fund's Prospectus.
Other information
The fund may invest more than 35% in securities issued by any one or more of the governments listed in the fund prospectus. Such exposure may be combined with the use of derivatives in pursuit of the fund objective. It is currently envisaged that the fund’s exposure to such securities may exceed 35% in the governments of Germany, Japan, UK, USA although these may vary subject only to those listed in the prospectus.
The Fund allows for the extensive use of derivatives.