Effective from 9 October, the $145 million Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund and $141 million Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund will see a management fee reduction, as well as changes to their investment objective.
On the former, the fund will be known as the Global Dynamic Bond fund and have a new investment objective to focus on income and capital appreciation.
“This name change better reflects the total return and unconstrained nature of this global multi-sector bond fund. The portfolio is managed in a dynamic manner, being able to rotate across duration and sector exposures to seek the highest risk-adjusted returns,” it said.
While the investment philosophy and process remain unchanged, the objective will change to “maximise total return over a full market cycle through a combination of income and capital appreciation with a secondary objective of downside protection”.
On the Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund, the name will remain the same, but its benchmark will move from the FTSE World Government Bond Index (Hedged to AUD) to the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index (Hedged to AUD).
“This change better aligns the benchmark with the fund’s investment universe and provides a more comprehensive representation of the global fixed income opportunity set encompassing sovereign, investment grade corporate, supranational and securitised debt,” it said.
Both funds will also see fee reductions as part of the firm’s commitment to delivering greater value and improved outcomes for investors.
On the Global Dynamic Bond, this will reduce from 0.65 per cent to 0.50 per cent for the Class A and 0.50 per cent to 0.45 per cent for Class M. On the Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund, Class A units will reduce from 0.7 per cent to 0.55 per cent.
“With a strong presence in the Australian market spanning several decades, Brandywine has established a reputation for delivering innovative investment solutions and consistent returns. The changes to these two Brandywine funds reflect our ongoing commitment to the Australian market and effort to improve client outcomes,” the firm concluded.
Earlier this year, the firm announced it would scrap its Martin Currie branding and fold the funds into the wider Franklin Templeton Group, a change which came into force in August. Some 14 funds were rebranded from Martin Currie to ClearBridge, while the Martin Currie Global Long-Term Unconstrained Fund was changed to the Franklin Templeton Global Long-Term Unconstrained Fund.
