mallowstreet University: The Fixed Income Drive In

Fixed Income and Credit have traditionally been a staple in most pension fund portfolios. As pension funds intensify their hunt for yield, they are now exploring new areas in the credit spectrum.

At this Drive In, delegates will break into small groups and hear from four expert managers who will share their insights into the markets, and explain some of the opportunities that exist to help pension funds access a higher yield, ultimately helping to close deficits.

This educational event is exclusively available for trustees and their advisors, and is eligible for CPD accreditation.  

Speakers

Program

  1. Registration

    Tea and Coffee

  2. Welcome Address & Introductions

    Stuart Breyer, CEO of mallowstreet

  3. Rotating Intensive Workshop I | Macquarie

    Brett Lewthwaite, Head of Macquarie Investment Management’s Fixed Income and Currency team will discuss what we believe are the questions institutional investors should be asking their fixed income managers. Brett will begin by examining the structural factors that have led to the disappearance of yield, and then assess the challenges of investing across fixed income markets in the current environment

  4. Rotating Intensive Workshop II: Higher or lower rates: Is a binary outcome the only bet?

    James McAlevey, Aviva Investors. If, as we expect, we are entering a period where the causes of volatility are changing, investors will need to look beyond the inevitable bursts of turbulence and identify the key drivers of long-term investment returns. Our workshops will look at historic demand for treasuries from around the world and explore how some of the changes occurring in ownership structure could be creating the conditions for a rise in volatility from the extremely low levels we see today. We then consider what implications this could have on other fixed income assets around the world. Could benefiting from a rise in volatility be a better option than betting on the binary outcome of higher versus lower rates?

  5. Break

    Coffee, Tea and Networking

  6. Rotating Intensive Workshop III: Break boundaries, go global

    Pilar Gomez-Bravo, MFS Investment Management. For well over a decade UK pension funds have invested much of their equity allocation globally, convinced about the ability of better diversification to reduce risk, and a wider opportunity set to add value. Despite the success of this approach a significant home bias continues in the investment of Fixed income assets. This session will discuss why we think this global approach can be used to good effect more widely.

  7. Rotating Intensive Workshop IV: Making the Investment Case for EM Corporate Debt

    Jeffrey Kaczmarski, Stone Harbor. EM Corporate Debt is a sizeable asset class providing diversification by rating, country and industry and exhibiting strong credit quality, with fundamentals and valuations which are attractive relative to U.S. corporate peers. However, EM Corporate Debt is an often misunderstood asset class. While institutional investors generally have been comfortable allocating to EM equities, they have been less inclined to invest in debt issued by EM companies. In addition, though EM Corporate Debt is often examined in a pure EM context, the asset class compares favourably to developed market credit and should be included in a global credit allocation. The session will highlight why Stone Harbor believes EM Corporate Debt offers an attractive investment opportunity (with focus on current investment themes) and will address relative positioning to other global credit asset classes.

  8. Lunch and Networking

  9. End