News that Invesco’s co-heads of fixed income are to retire at the end of this year, should not result in rush decisions by investors, market commentators say.
Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre (pictured), says: “The news of the joint retirement is a blow for investors, as they have worked together for many years very successfully and Invesco is losing a wealth of experience from the team. But it isn’t a big surprise – Paul Read had already moved away from a number of funds.
“Invesco still has a very strong fixed income team, which has been built up methodically over the years. This, combined with the fact that both Pauls will remain in-situ until the end of this year, means we believe investors can take their time to decide if they want to stick with the funds or move elsewhere.
“Mike Matthews has been co-manager of the Invesco Corporate Bond fund for more than eight years and the fund will retain Fund Calibre’s Elite Rating.
“As Rhys Davies has only been co-manager of the Invesco Monthly Income Plus fund since last year and we have yet to meet him, the fund must unfortunately lose its Elite Rating.”
Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell concurs on the “phenomenal job for their investors” the pair have done over a very long period of time, helping to build Invesco’s £25bn fixed interest.
He says: “At a time when many say there isn’t room for active managers, their 26-year tenure on the Invesco Corporate Bond fund has delivered a 387% return for investors, significantly outperforming the IA Sterling Corporate Bond sector average by nearly 120%. A look at the career track record which encompasses all of their different funds across the fixed interest spectrum also shows strong outperformance of the peer group.
Hughes adds that the announcement a year ago that they were stepping back on a number of funds to allow their colleagues to take more of a front foot “was a sign that this announcement would come sooner rather than later”.
“Looking ahead, the new co-team head Mike Matthews is hugely experienced having worked on the team himself alongside Causer and Read since 1995, while Thomas Moore also has significant experience and therefore we can assume strong continuity in the approach to the fixed interest funds.
“With a solid and experienced team, there is certainly no need for existing holders of any of the Invesco fixed interest funds to panic and given the well communicated handover, I expect little impact on the funds over time.”
