The new Fixed Income & Structured Finance division, which was finalised in late November, represents an attempt to combat the current low-yield environment, with clients looking for what the firm described as ‘non-traditional credit’.
It combines the structured finance assets with the traditional fixed income portfolios, and is composed of five investment streams:
– Active Fixed Income*: actively managed strategies including traditional benchmarked, total return and strategic
– Buy and Maintain Fixed Income*: long-term low-turnover solutions for third-party pension and insurance clients
– Solutions: portfolio and credit research and solutions, managed by Jean-Louis Laforge
– Structured Finance: integration of Loans & Private Debt and Securitised & Structured Assets divisions, managed by Deborah Shire
– AXA Group: team that liaises with AXA Group, managed by Gilles Dauphine
*Chris Iggo, CIO and head of fixed income Europe and Asia, leads the European, Asian and Global teams, while Carl Whitbeck, head of fixed income US, will manage the US side of the streams.
The offering is managed by John Porter, AXA IM’s global head of fixed income and structured finance, who outlined the benefits of the merger.
Porter said: “This set up will enable us to diversify our product suite creating assets that clients would not normally be able to access on their own and enabling them to trade off liquidity or complexity for yield, which appears a very attractive proposition in today’s low yield environment.”
An AXA spokesperson added: “The likes of asset-backed securities, CAT bonds and insurance-linked securities. These, along with loans, are things [we are looking at] beyond fixed income in order to get a return in this low-yield environment.
“You will start to see structured finance assets being integrated into traditional fixed income portfolios. We want to fit some funds into this space which integrate both sides.
“With the teams working together there will be new offerings both in the institutional and retail space that we can bring to the market.”