Pictet-Global Emerging Debt HR EUR |



by Arvind Subramanian

Pictet has announced that Mary-Therese Barton, head of Emerging Markets Debt at the firm, will be promoted to the role of head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income as of Aug. 1, 2022. Barton currently leads the 17-member team of portfolio managers and analysts responsible for the firm’s global and regional emerging-markets sovereign debt strategies. She now steps into a newly created role that adds an additional layer of oversight between the Emerging Markets Debt team leaders and Fixed Income CIO Raymond Sagayam. Previously, the heads of the Emerging Market Sovereign Debt, Emerging Market Corporate Debt, and greater China bond teams reported directly to the CIO; now they will report to Barton, who reports to Sagayam. Portfolio manager Alper Gocer, who has served as the Emerging Market Sovereign team’s asset-class leader for local-currency emerging-markets debt since 2018, will take over from Barton as head of that team as of Aug. 1, 2022. These changes are relevant to three strategies currently rated by Morningstar: Pictet-Emerging Local Currency Debt, which is managed day to day by Gocer. This strategy has People and Process Pillar Ratings of Above Average, and Morningstar Analyst Ratings of Neutral for all share classes. Pictet-Global Emerging Debt, which is managed day to day by Guido Chamorro and Robert Simpson. This strategy has a People Pillar rating of Above Average, a Process Pillar rating of Average, and Morningstar Analyst Ratings ranging from Bronze to Neutral. Pictet-Asian Local Currency Debt, which is managed day to day by Carrie Liaw and Ali Bora Yigitbasioglu. The strategy and has People and Process Pillar Ratings of Average and its Morningstar Analyst Ratings range from Neutral to Negative. The announced changes do not affect our fundamental view of these strategies’ capabilities and processes. All three strategies are managed within Pictet’s tight-knit Emerging Market Sovereign team, whose eight portfolio managers work collaboratively to implement investment ideas across their several portfolios and who are well-equipped to weather the reshuffle. Although Gocer’s workload has increased with his new administrative responsibilities, he is well supported by the rest of the team in managing the Emerging Local Currency Debt strategy and can be expected to effectively balance his new duties with running that portfolio. At all three strategies, Barton is expected to continue to contribute her macro views and to oversee the investment process alongside her new duties. We therefore maintain our conviction in the strategies’ current ratings. |
Recent leadership changes are not expected to prove disruptive at Pictet Global Emerging Debt, given the investment team’s deep expertise and highly collaborative investment process. Morningstar has enhanced the way we assess alpha opportunity for funds, which is a key component in our Morningstar Medalist Rating calculation. More of this strategy's Medalist Ratings than usual may therefore change with this update even in the absence of changes to pillar ratings or fund costs. Guido Chamorro, a veteran at the firm and this strategy’s co-lead manager since 2018, departed in March 2025. While his exit is a loss, the team’s depth, market expertise, and collaborative investment style should help it weather the change with minimal disruption. Robert Simpson, the strategy’s other co-lead manager, has worked alongside Chamorro since 2020, and his continued presence here is reassuring. This strategy also saw the addition of Andrew Stanners to the manager lineup in January 2025. Stanners joined Pictet from Aberdeen, where he managed Aberdeen Emerging Markets Total Return Bond for six years to solid results. He specializes in bottom-up sovereign credit research, making his skillset a good complement to the group’s strengths in macro research. Christopher Preece, a comanager since March 2024, assists Simpson and Stanners in country coverage and portfolio construction. Rounding out the team is Alper Gocer, the group’s head of emerging-markets fixed income, who provides investment oversight at this strategy. The investment process blends the team’s top-down macro-outlook with bottom-up views on individual sovereign issuers in a collaborative approach involving the entire emerging-markets sovereign debt team. However, the team has yet to showcase consistency in bottom-up credit selection within hard-currency sovereign issues. While the managers have overcome these shortcomings in the past through adeptly managing macro-risks and effectively utilizing off-benchmark currency and rates plays, this has led to mixed results over the five-year period from 2020 to 2025 under Simpson’s watch. |
Morningstar Pillars | |
People | Above Average |
Parent | Above Average |
Process | Average |
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