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10 minutes with Christophe Akel
The global bond sector has become one of the most popular in recent years and GLG's global corporate bond offering ranks among the most consistent performers in the market.
Previously known as the SG international bond, the fund changed name and mandate under the GLG acquisition and came under current managers Christophe Akel and Galia Velimukhametova.
They tweaked the portfolio to focus on investment-grade corporate or financial debt from across the world, with up to 10 per cent in emerging markets, as long as the bonds and country are IG-rated by one of the three big agencies.
"We aim to compete with more traditional UK credit funds and see our global mandate as providing several advantages in terms of diversification, liquidity and valuation," says Akel.
"In general, credit spreads outside the UK tend to be wider due to the larger markets so there are opportunities to outperform with a broader mandate."
Akel describes the team's approach as benchmark-aware, not taking any currency risk against the index, for example, although they look...