Candriam Bds Euro High Yld N EUR Cap

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|18/12/2023

by Jeana Marie Doubell
On 30 Jan 2023, Candriam announced that its then-CEO Naïm Abou-Jaoudé had been tapped to become the CEO of parent company New York Life Investment Management. In turn, Vincent Hamelink (previously CIO) was tapped to take over as CEO of Candriam, supported by Renato Guerriero, Candriam's chief sales and distribution officer, who assumed a new role as deputy CEO. In April, Candriam announced that as of 1 May 2023, Nicolas Forest (previously Candriam's global head of fixed income) would replace Hamelink as CIO.

Also as of 1 May, Philippe Noyard (previously global head of credit and Forest's deputy) took over as Candriam's global head of fixed income. Noyard now leads a team of more than 40 fixed-income experts, overseeing Candriam's EUR 40 billion fixed income platform, which includes global bonds; money market; investment-grade, high-yield, emerging-markets debt; and convertible bonds. He also retains his previous responsibilities as global head of credit.

Noyard will remain a named comanager of Candriam Bonds Euro High Yield and continue to support lead manager Nicolas Jullien. Jullien took over the helm from Noyard in January 2020 (after working alongside him on this strategy for 13 years), when Noyard was originally promoted to global head of credit. Jullien is further supported by comanager Thomas Joret, who leads the global high-yield strategies. A third comanager, Sichong Qi, will be added to the fund, offering further support to the team. Qi has been a high-yield credit analyst at Candriam since 2016 and took on portfolio management responsibilities for several euro high-yield mandates in 2021.

Under Jullien's leadership, the strategy has held a High People rating and an Above Average Process rating, and we remain confident in his ability to lead here. In addition, Noyard will continue in his role as chair of the credit committee, which is responsible for extensively vetting any issuers that enter the high-yield portfolios. Furthermore, though Qi has limited public portfolio manager experience, we view this addition to the fund favorably as it should help alleviate the team's workload. The strategy therefore maintains its High People and Above Average Process ratings.
 
Candriam Bonds Euro High Yield stands apart from the competition thanks to its stable and tight-knit investment team plying a risk-aware, research-driven investment process. It earns High People and Above Average Process Pillar ratings.

Nicolas Jullien took the helm at this fund, and leadership of Candriam's global high-yield team, in January 2020. He took over the reins from previous high-yield chief Philippe Noyard, who was later promoted to global head of fixed income in May 2023. However, a number of factors made the transitions less disruptive than might have seemed. For one, Jullien had worked alongside industry veteran Noyard in managing this strategy for 13 years before becoming lead, during which time the managers consistently plied a risk-aware and thoughtful process and built a compelling track record. For another, Noyard remains a backup comanager on the strategy. Jullien is further supported by comanagers Thomas Joret, who focuses primarily on the group's global high-yield mandates, and Sichong Qi, named here in 2023 to offer additional support. As one of the team's six experienced high-yield analysts, Qi also maintains research coverage of the automobile sector for the team,

The investment process continues to be based on fundamentally driven security selection combined with relative value considerations. The manager also uses derivatives in moderation to adjust the portfolio's overall credit market sensitivity or to gain exposure to certain highly traded issuers at a lower cost. Unlike many competitors in the euro high-yield bond Morningstar Category, the strategy largely avoids the financials sector, which the managers argue carries policy risks inappropriate for a high-yield portfolio. That restrained opportunity set has not held the strategy back from beating its more broadly invested peer group, however. Its I share class' five- and 10-year returns through November 2023 handily outpaced 90% of its average euro high-yield bond category peers, with lower volatility.

 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™A collegial team with a robust process.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleHigh
ParentAverage
ProcessAbove Average
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
Permissions/Reprints   E-mail Morningstar     
A fim de prover consistência para todos os relatórios fornecidos por diferentes Asset Managers, os data points calculados apresentados são gerados usando uma metodologia de cálculo proprietária da Morningstar, que pode ser conferida com mais detalhes em(https://www.morningstar.com/research/signature)
© Copyright 2024 Morningstar, Inc. Todos os direitos reservados.

Termos de Uso        Política Privacidade        Cookie Settings        Divulgações