AXA’s decision to restructure its growth portfolio research teams under a single team of sector heads will not affect its rating, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
The AXA Wholesale Global Equity Growth Fund was downgraded to three stars on 22 March due to concerns about senior staff instability, said S&P Funds Services analyst John Huynh.
Since team instability was taken into account at the time of the March review, today’s announcement by AXA has not had any further effect on S&P’s conviction or rating of the fund, he said.
However, Huynh said that although he did not expect the restructure to have a significant effect, the change to the investment decision-making structure could lead to an increase in portfolio turnover in the near term.
