AB wins $140m mandate
Global asset manager, AllianceBerstein (AB) has been awarded a $140 million mandate by superannuation fund, Prime Super, to manage its short-duration global credit portfolio.
AB said the aim of the portfolio was to help protect Prime Super members' fixed-income allocations in the uncertain global rate environment where there is an unusually wide spread dispersion between various countries in terms of their monetary policy settings and outlook.
According to AB, interest rates are expected to rise in the US and fall further in Australia, while the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan have introduced negative interest rates.
Prime Super, chief executive officer, Lachlan Baird said, "we are looking for a degree of protection from this uncertainty by investing in a portfolio of traditional fixed-income assets with relatively little duration, or exposure to interest-rate risk, but which has at the same time the potential for returns through a modest exposure to credit".
AB's New York-based chief investment officer for global credit, Ashish Shah, said AB offers their investors "conservative interest-rate risks similar to bank deposits, with a more diversified credit profile and higher potential returns, thanks to investment in corporate bonds".
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