A double bond fund launch for the fixed income team Artemis poached from Kames Capital has been welcomed for its competitive pricing, although Brexit could threaten UK appetite for the fund that is to be domiciled in Luxembourg.
Stephen Snowden (pictured) resigned from Kames in November last year alongside high yield managers David Ennett and Stephen Baines, plus Juan Valenzuela.
The Artemis Corporate Bond fund will be managed by Snowden as a UK Oeic and Ucits vehicle and supported from Valenzuela, Ennett and Baines, while the Global High Yield Bond fund, which is a sub fund of the Luxembourg Sicav, will be managed by Ennett and Baines and supported by Valenzuela and Snowden.
Chelsea Financial Services managing director Darius McDermott said Snowden’s fund at Kames was rated by Fundcalibre and on Chelsea’s core buy list “so we will be interested his new fund”. “Short-dated HY funds are very topical at the moment but I have not seen them on this yet so wait and see on that one.”
Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock said the launch gives Artemis a full suite of core bond funds. “The fund launches are both complimentary to the managers skill set and to the existing team to Artemis.”
Competitive OCFs
Shore Financial director Ben Yearsley said the charges looked competitive compared to many existing funds. “These are the funds I expected when they announced they had poached the managers.”
The Corporate Bond fund will be benchmarked against iBoxx £ Collateralized & Corporates Index with an ongoing charges figure of 0.40%.
Meanwhile, the Global High-Yield Bond fund’s benchmark will be the ICE BofA Merrill Lynch Global High Yield Constrained USD Hedged Index. The fund’s management fee will be 0.50% and ongoing charges will be 0.51% (I-class) and 0.55% (B-class).
No deal Brexit concerns for Sicav
Likewise, Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell, added: “It’s encouraging to see that Artemis are pricing these funds correctly and at competitive levels which should make them attractive to investors, albeit, other high quality managers remain lower cost, although it’s interesting to note that the High Yield fund is being domiciled in Luxembourg which may put off some investors given the potential of a no deal Brexit despite the expectation of regulatory alignment and the temporary permissions regime.”
Hughes said both managers are well known in the market and “fully expects” these launches to be well received.
Artemis’ head of distribution Jasper Berens said: “These two new funds will continue to enhance our capability in fixed income. Stephen, David and Stephen are experienced and respected managers with a great team behind them. By broadening what we offer, we are confident that these new funds will help us to go on meeting investors’ needs.”
