Derivatives and other complexities in Man GLG Dynamic Income

aroominyork

It took me a few years to get a basic understanding of bonds – stuff about duration only really sunk in after interest rates rose in 2022 (though by luck not judgement I mostly held short duration). The only actively managed bond fund I hold is Man GLG Sterling Corporate Bond which has performed well since its launch in 2021, so it was interesting to see the same manager has a strategic bond fund, Man GLG Dynamic Income. But that second fund’s performance and holdings are very confusing so I thought it would be a good way to deepen my understanding of bonds, and I hope this thread will be helpful to others also.

The factsheet shows many versions of the fund but the one I am looking at is the hedged Man GLG Dynamic Income (Class I H) Acc, ISIN IE000RA2ZI45.

This is performance since launch. What stands out, apart from the high returns, is the almost perfectly straight line rise since last April. How is that explained?

The factsheet gives a risk indicator of 2/7 which is low for a strategic bond fund – they are typically 3/7. Yet the KIID shows 5/7, so what is going on here? Those two links both come from the same section of Man GLG’s website.

Then we drill into the holdings, where there are negative % holdings and derivatives:

-          The top 10 issues shown on the factsheetr are by sector so differ from the actual top holdings shown by Morningstar (led by 4.37% in Puffin Finance S.a.r.l. 15%)

-          Morningstar shows credit quality as 0% AAA, 0.09% AA, 1.97% A with 0% exposure to government bonds. Yet the factsheet shows 24.27% held in “North America – Government – AAA”. How does that reconcile?

-          We then get into derivatives – which I do not really understand – and the negative holdings, eg Single Name Corporates – Derivatives: 30.34% long exposure and -25.38% short exposure. Does that mean 25.38% is betting on prices of North American communications and energy bonds falling? Are derivatives just a way to lay that bet without actually owning the bond – which makes sense for a short holding – but how do derivatives work for long holdings where you are betting on price rises?

It's all quite confusing but I hope it will, with your replies, become educational.

masonic

aroominyork said:

how do derivatives work for long holdings where you are betting on price rises?

In a nutshell, exactly the same as short holdings. Instead of going out and purchasing or selling assets, you agree with some counterparty that they will provide you with a contractual return linked to the asset in question. This is how synthetic ETFs work. The counterparty is free to do what it likes to enable itself to pay that return. It doesn't have to invest in (or borrow and sell) the asset to which the return is linked. It may believe it can take the capital and invest it in other assets to deliver at least the equivalent return. It could then make a profit on the deal, but this is risky, especially for short derivatives.

Regarding the chart, it is quite smooth, which may be indicative of assets that are very low risk (compare with a money market fund for example) or just that the assets aren't valued very frequently (compare to fund investing in unlisted securities or bricks and mortar property). I don't know why the risk indicator is all over the place, but I note the fund doesn't have much historic data on which to assess volatility.

Bostonerimus1

Derivatives are just financial instruments that depend, or derive, from other financial instruments. So an option is a derivative. They can be used to hedge against a loss or to increase a gain, they can provide leverage.