Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund launched

Legg Mason has added Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund to the Legg Mason Global Funds range, giving investors in Singapore the opportunity to benefit from undervalued investments across the global bond markets.

"The Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund is a medium term total return bond fund and in the current investment cycle, investors can potentially benefit from high levels of yields without having to assume equity-like volatility," said Lennie Lim, head of Asia distribution for Legg Mason.

Sub-managed by Western Asset Management, one of the world’s largest fixed income mangers, the Fund seeks to maximise total return through income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in high-quality investment-grade debt securities denominated in US dollars, Japanese yen, pound sterling, euro and currencies of a variety of other developed and emerging market countries.

"Global fixed income markets have become broader and deeper over the last decade and now offer a wider range of investment opportunities than ever before. This means that there is no longer a need to restrict your investments to just government or corporate bonds," said Mike Zelouf, Director of International Business at Western Asset.

The Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund targets the global bond universe and has the flexibility to span the entire fixed income spectrum to take advantage of opportunities across a broad range of bonds, from safer developed market government bonds to riskier high yield corporate and emerging market bonds.

"By holding a diversified portfolio that has the scope to participate in a wider set of fixed income sectors, investors can take advantage of the changing market conditions and better protect their assets in varying economic scenarios," continued Zelouf.

Commenting on the outlook for the global fixed income market, Zelouf said, "Government programmes put in place are having, and should continue to have, favourable impact on bond prices, even if the economic backdrop remains challenged."

Zelouf said that yields across corporate bonds, emerging markets and high yield debt are at historical high levels.

"Under our base case scenario, both investment grade and high yield corporate debt should perform strongly. Western Asset believes that default risk is overestimated by the market and therefore expects corporate bonds to outperform their government counterparts over the next few years. Within the corporate bond sector, we are in favour of the emerging markets bond issues as we believe that they are priced attractively relative to similar corporations in the developed world," Zelouf added.

"We are delighted to introduce the Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund to Singapore retail investors. Western Asset is a leading fixed income manager and employs its vast experience and global reach to take a highly innovative and diversified approach to managing fixed income. Its proven long-term track record of managing similar strategies makes this Fund an excellent addition to our Legg Mason fund range," Lim concluded.