Templeton Asian Bond N(acc)EUR

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|06/07/2023

by Arvind Subramanian
Templeton Asian Bond benefits from the rich experience of the portfolio managers backed by a stable and deep supporting cast, but we remain concerned over the suitability of their high-conviction investment approach in this relatively narrow Asian investment universe. As a result, the strategy’s cheaper share classes, including the W clean share class, maintain their Morningstar Medalist Ratings of Neutral, while its more-expensive share classes maintain their Negative ratings.

The strategy has been led by Michael Hasenstab, CIO of the firm’s global macro team, since its October 2005 inception. The highly experienced Hasenstab retains the overall responsibility and decision power for this Asian bond strategy, while the day-to-day portfolio management is adeptly handled by Singapore-based portfolio manager Vivek Ahuja. The strategy also saw the addition of Calvin Ho, director of research for the global macro team, as a comanager in December 2022. The trio is part of a highly experienced 20-member global macro unit, which is noticeable for its deep experience and relative stability.

This Asian bond strategy employs a high-conviction, research-focused approach that hinges on the global macro team’s views, which are driven by fundamental and valuation analysis. Although it is benchmarked against the JPMorgan GBI-EM Broad Diversified Asia Index, the strategy is benchmark-agnostic and the managers have significant latitude to take concentrated positions in single issuers or currencies, at times straying off their benchmark into developed-markets debt and currencies. Examples include a short on U.S. Treasuries from 2016 to early 2020, leading to a negative overall duration, and a zero weight in China (which accounts for roughly a fifth of the benchmark) in May 2023. This effect is amplified within an Asia-only mandate, given the narrower universe and naturally less-diversified portfolio compared with the team’s global strategies. Nonetheless, we have reservations over the suitability of such an investing approach amid the narrower Asian investment universe, as this tends to increase concentration risks.

The strategy’s long-term track record has been severely dented by recent missteps, notably in 2019 and 2020, caused primarily by their conservative duration positioning. Despite an improved showing in 2022, outlier currency bets in Japanese yen and Korean won have once again dragged performance this year through May 2023. Overall, it remains unclear whether the team’s distinct investing style is well suited to deliver outperformance over the long term in this particular investment universe.
 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™A relatively narrow investment universe constrains the strategy’s high-conviction style.
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Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAbove Average
ParentAverage
ProcessAverage
 
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.
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