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Aegon High Yield Bond
The Aegon High Yield Bond fund uses a high-conviction, bottom-up approach to find value across global high yield markets. The style agnostic portfolio aims to generate long-term outperformance by exploiting global high yield market inefficiencies which range across issuers, sectors and geographies.
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Thomas Hanson is Head of High Yield in the Fixed Income team, with 19 years of industry experience. He joined in 2019 from Janus Henderson Investors, where he managed several high yield bond funds. Prior to that, Thomas held various analysis and portfolio management roles at Aerion and Lazard Asset Management. He holds a BA (Joint Hons) in French and Management Studies from the University of Reading and is a CFA charterholder.
Mark Benbow is a portfolio manager and part of the global leveraged finance team, specializing in high-yield bonds and co-managing global high-yield strategies. Before joining the firm in 2015, Mark worked as a global equities analyst at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley. He has been in the industry since 2008 and holds a first-class honors degree in Management and Economics, as well as a Master's in Investment and Finance.
Thomas Hanson is Head of High Yield in the Fixed Income team, with 19 years of industry experience. He joined in 2019 from Janus Henderson Investors, where he managed several high yield bond funds. Prior to that, Thomas held various analysis and portfolio management roles at Aerion and Lazard Asset Management. He holds a BA (Joint Hons) in French and Management Studies from the University of Reading and is a CFA charterholder.
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Mark Benbow is a portfolio manager and part of the global leveraged finance team, specializing in high-yield bonds and co-managing global high-yield strategies. Before joining the firm in 2015, Mark worked as a global equities analyst at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley. He has been in the industry since 2008 and holds a first-class honors degree in Management and Economics, as well as a Master's in Investment and Finance.
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Company Description
Aegon Asset Management is a global investment company, with offices in America, Europe and Asia. It provides fixed income, equity, real asset and multi-asset investment solutions to a range of clients, including pension plans, wealth managers, insurance companies and individual investors. The firm originated in the Netherlands as an insurance company before going on to develop the asset management side of the business.
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Investment process
This strategy’s investment approach is underpinned by the belief that markets are fundamentally inefficient, particularly in less liquid, more private markets like the high yield segment. Thus, they feel that an index agnostic approach is essential so that they can actively pursue multiple sources of alpha across the whole of the opportunity set.
The initial global high yield universe includes over 1,700 companies. The universe is screened to narrow it down so that they can focus on their highest conviction ideas. The credit analysts then will conduct further analysis on approximately 400 to 500 high yield companies that remain after the screen. They use a proprietary analysis framework that focuses on debt levels, maturity schedules, cash flow generation and liquidity.
The portfolio managers will also consider the macroeconomic environment when looking at different securities and areas of the market at a point in time. This view is shaped by a mix of the firm's top-down house view and the portfolio manager's personal perspectives. This analysis will typically leave the team with a final portfolio of between 90-140 issues.
Risk
Aegon’s high yield portfolios are guided by a risk-aware approach, supported by a rigorous risk management process and independent risk management teams. An independent oversight framework ensures they take appropriate risks and comply with all regulatory requirements. This risk-focused mindset is employed to take sufficient, yet not excessive, investment risk in pursuit of performance targets while staying within established risk tolerances. The team actively seeks multiple alpha sources to prevent any single investment risk from dominating the overall risk/reward profile.
The fund sits in the global high yield space – an area of the market where companies are more likely to default when compared to investment grade.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
As part of their bottom-up research the team will also identify and consider ESG factors that could influence the issuer’s creditworthiness and long-term value. Research analysts will combine their own analysis with third party sources to help assign issuers into proprietary ESG categories. By combining ESG factors with their fundamental research, the team take a holistic view of the issuer.
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