Wells, who is part of the fixed income team running the £484m Smith & Williamson Short-Dated Corporate Bond Fund, will allocate the fund’s capital across the globe with exposure predominantly in government issued, inflation-linked debt rated AA by the S&P.
Domiciled in Dublin, the Ucits fund may also invest selectively in investment-grade sterling inflation-linked corporate bonds to boost returns.
The firm said it aims to offer a solution for investors concerned about inflation, as well as the duration risk in UK government index-linked bonds.
Wells said: “To us, a global inflation-linked fund makes a lot of sense. UK inflation-linked gilts are very expensive and embed a high level of interest rate sensitivity due to their very long duration – in other words, you have to take a view on where UK rates might be headed, as well as having a view on inflation.”
The fund will be benchmarked against the iBoxx Global Inflation Linked Bond Index, also hedged to sterling.
Ed Rosengarten, head of funds at Smith & Williamson, said: “These are exciting times for the funds business at Smith & Williamson and we are delighted to look to continue our track record of providing investment-led solutions to real-world problems.”
Smith & Williamson is offering all investors access to an institutional share class with an annual management fee of just 0.25% to mark the launch. The offer period will run for 12 months.
