Artemis Strategic Bond Fund Update

Artemis have announced changes to the managers of the Artemis Strategic Bond Fund.

The fund has been managed by Juan Valenzuela and Rebecca Young since November 2021. Valenzuela has decided to leave the business at the end of 2023 to join a hedge fund. Artemis have therefore chosen to reorganise the fixed income team, which has resulted in Rebecca Young leaving the business with immediate effect.

Artemis have appointed abrdn’s Liam O’Donnell as a portfolio manager. He has over 18 years’ industry experience and was Head of Nominal Rates at abrdn as well as being a fund manager on the abrdn Strategic Bond and AAA Income funds. He will have responsibility for Rates and Macro at Artemis, which had historically been Valenzuela’s area of expertise. His interest rate and macro views will impact positioning across the range of fixed income funds managed by the team. O’Donnell will report into Stephen Snowdon, Head of Fixed Interest.

O’Donnell has also been named as one of three new fund managers of the Artemis Strategic Bond Fund, alongside Grace Le and David Ennett. Ennett and O’Donnell have worked together previously at Standard Life.

All three will be co-managers and each will have different responsibilities. O’Donnell will have responsibility for rates and duration, Le will be responsible for investment grade credit and Ennett will be responsible for high yield credit.

Artemis have confirmed that there will be no change to the fund structure, objective or benchmark as a result of these changes.

The changes have been implemented from 1 November 2023, although O’Donnell is awaiting Financial Conduct Authority clearance to allow him to execute trades on the fund. Valenzuela will continue to work with the team until his departure at the end of the year.

Our View

We are cautious when it comes to manager changes, so a second set of changes to the managers of the fund in around two years is a concern. The changes appear to have been triggered by Valenzuela choosing to leave the business. We note that working for a hedge fund is potentially quite different to working as a fund manager on open ended, daily traded funds.

We rate Le and Ennett highly from the work they do on Artemis Corporate Bond and Artemis High Income funds respectively, both of which are on our Wealth Shortlist. O’Donnell is not a manager we are as familiar with, so we don’t have a strong view on his fund management capabilities.

This isn't a recommendation to make any changes to a portfolio. Investors should make sure any investments match their investment goals and attitude to risk and are held as part of a diversified portfolio. If you're not sure if an investment is suitable for your circumstances, please seek personal advice.

Past performance is not a guide to the future. Source: Lipper IM to 31/10/2023. Income has been reinvested in the above figures.

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