The diverging interest rate path between the US, EU and Japan, as well as the potential increase in trade tariffs by the US, should support elevated bond volatility in 2025. We offer an outlook on risks and opportunities and how we are positioning our BayernInvest Renten Europa fund in this environment. Active duration and curve management will be the most important sources of alpha.

Workshop Objective:

Facing the challenges on the bond market with active management and generating alpha on a sustained basis.

Company Profile:

BayernInvest is an asset manager and one of German’s leading providers of investment management and risk management solutions as well as fund administration (KVG) services for institutional investors. In addition, BayernInvest manages a range of mutual funds that are also available to retail investors. BayernInvest’s comprehensive ESG reporting helps clients deliver on their sustainability agenda. BayernInvest Luxembourg S.A.’s alternative investment platform is tailored to implement complex investment strategies across a wide range of alternative asset classes. With assets under control of around EUR 90 billion and as a wholly owned subsidiary of BayernLB, BayernInvest has regional roots with a focus on the German-speaking market. We make sustainability profitable. And profitability sustainable. Further information at https://www.bayerninvest.de and at https://www.bayerninvest.lu

Markets are undergoing a major shift, making diversification more critical than ever. As pioneers in REIT investing and a leader in liquid real assets, Cohen & Steers sees listed real estate as key beneficiary of this cycle. With lower interest rates reducing financing costs, REITs are primed for growth. They’re attractively valued compared to equities and private real estate, and well-positioned for acquisitions with tight credit spreads and favorable bond market conditions. Strong fundamentals, compelling valuations, and the continued potential for rate cuts make REITs a standout investment opportunity.

Workshop Objective:

Discover the key strategic benefits of real estate, recognize why an allocation will be critical and get to know Cohen & Steers' unique real estate investment approach.

Company Profile:

Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in everything we do, Cohen & Steers, New York Stock Exchange listed company, is a leading global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, focused on delivering alpha, income and diversification. Our teams are relentless in their drive to provide superior investment solutions and passionate about constantly innovating to meet the needs of clients today and anticipate their challenges of tomorrow.

Implicit in Evenlode’s ethos is the belief that all decisions – small and large– whether directly or indirectly related to the investment process, can make a difference to investor returns. Join this workshop to learn more about how Evenlode’s thoughtful decision-making process, combined with a holistic approach to risk management, and a boutique culture can deliver attractive and consistent long-term returns.

Workshop Objective:

To learn about the Evenlode Global Offering and how thoughtful decision making can deliver attractive and consistent long-term returns.

Company Profile:

Evenlode is an independent investment company based in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Spring Capital is an independent investment distribution company offering capital raising, marketing and client service for open-ended funds managed by boutique asset managers including Evenlode. 

Evenlode has one overarching investment philosophy – “Invest in high quality, cash generative companies at sensible valuations.” This philosophy is at the core of the three complementary strategies they manage: UK Equity Income, Global Equity Income and Global Equity Growth– which also share the same research team. Each strategy has lead managers, supported by the wider investment team– all of whom participate in decision-making for any portfolio changes.  
 
Evenlode has a highly developed approach to analysing risk and continuously look to improve their understanding of the fundamental business risks of the companies they invest in. Their extensive research is stored on a proprietary platform, called EDDIE, which includes tools to support investment decisions and all stewardship and engagement actions

Engagement is the tool to create both impact and returns. Through covering a broad range of both environmental and social engagement objectives, a much broader part of the market can be targeted than has typically been the case in the past by sustainability-orientated funds. Hamish Galpin will explain how engaging with companies across their value chain can result in more sustainable companies, generate impact and enhance shareholder returns. He will lay out the impact that investors can have through engagement with management, instead of passively backing those companies that are already impactful, as well as why SMID is the optimal place to focus. Hamish will highlight the strong engagement potential in global SMID and how both its long-term and current value makes now a great time to invest.

Workshop Objective:

• Understand how engagement drives both impact and shareholder returns.
• Learn why global SMID is best suited to engagement.
• Discover which sectors and stocks have the potential to see strong growth potential.

Company Profile:

Federated Hermes is guided by the conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create long-term wealth. We provide specialised capabilities across equity, fixed income and private markets, in addition to multi-asset strategies and liquidity-management solutions. Through pioneering stewardship services, we engage companies on strategic and sustainability concerns to promote investors’ long-term performance and fiduciary interests. Our goals are to help people invest and retire better, to help clients achieve better risk-adjusted returns and, where possible, to contribute to positive outcomes that benefit the wider world.

With the S&P effectively at all-time highs amid surging market volatility and geopolitical tensions, it’s understandable that investors are cautious about markets in the future. It may feel like the right moment to shift toward smaller investments, but can you afford to not own the 'Magnificent 7'? 
Is there a way to reduce your exposure to high valuations while keeping an allocation in these key large caps?
First Trust will explore and provide solutions on:
1.    How to keep allocating to large caps with upside potential, lower volatility and downside protection.
2.    The potential to enhance portfolio resilience through the historic opportunity in US SMID caps, offering attractive valuations, robust growth prospects, and a track record of strong dividends.

Workshop Objective:

Discover how First Trust's small and mid-cap dividend strategies and Target Outcome solutions help investors pursue growth potential while protecting against downside risks amid market uncertainties.

Company Profile:

First Trust is a privately held, US-based financial services company founded in 1991. Our mission and approach are simple: We want to offer investors a better way to invest by offering transparent and innovative solutions - through a thorough understanding of our investments, long-term investing, a disciplined approach and regular rebalancing of our portfolios. These core principles are incorporated into all aspects of our business and form the basis of our reputation. Based on these principles, First Trust's specialist investment managers apply a robust and disciplined approach across a variety of methodologies. We have a strong track record of delivering a variety of rules-based, thematic and actively managed strategies that invest in a wide range of equities, fixed income and alternative investments. To deliver our message, our regional sales teams work closely with potential and existing customers to make First Trust's various single country, regional and global solutions accessible worldwide.

There has been a significant surge in investors' demand for US equities. Investors are seeking exposure to the US equity market across various segments, including small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap stocks. The iShares US equity range caters to this demand by offering a comprehensive selection of options, across physical and swap exposures.

Workshop Objective:

•    Provide an overview of the current US equity market.
•    Discuss various strategies for investors to access the US equity market.
•    Offer insights into the iShares MSCI US equity range and how these funds can assist investors in navigating the US equity market.

Company Profile:

BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate

MSCI is a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community. With over 50 years of expertise in research, data and technology, MSCI enables clients to understand and analyse key drivers of risk and return and confidently build more effective portfolios. 

Active ETFs had a breakout year in 2023. While the flow momentum for active ETFs is strong, not all investors are yet familiar with the concept. We will briefly explain the active ETF concept and explore the 2 largest active UCITS ETFs: JPM Global Research Enhanced Index Equity (ESG) UCITS ETF und JPM US Research Enhanced Index Equity (ESG) UCITS ETF.

Workshop Objective:

To explain the concept of active ETFs and explore  strategies available in the ETF wrapper.

Company Profile:

J.P. Morgan ETFs are rigorously designed to push the boundaries of ETF investing so that investors can build diversified, competitively priced portfolios.  Our ETF solutions are backed by the extensive research, trading and technology resources of one of the world’s leading asset managers. It’s this combination of investment expertise and ETF know-how that sets our ETFs apart, allowing us to track indexes more efficiently, and provide competitively priced access to new opportunities through the development of innovative active, strategic beta and index strategies. J.P. Morgan Asset Management is one of the fastest growing UCITS ETF providers with over 25bn US dollar assets under management.

Brian McCormick, Investment Manager, Jupiter Global Value, will argue that in the short term, markets are dominated by emotions, flows and speculation, but in the long term by company fundamentals. He will explain how he seeks to identify higher quality assets at lower valuations. This involves not trading short term momentum but seeking long term returns through a disciplined value investment process and curbing emotional bias. He will place this approach to value investing within the tradition of Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, Joel Greenblatt and Seth Klarman. He will also describe how active engagement with companies can be a catalyst for change and improved investment returns.

Workshop Objective:

To understand a value investment process and how higher quality assets can be available at lower valuations.

Company Profile:

Jupiter is an active asset manager. We believe that investment excellence requires diverse thinking, creativity, and a relentless drive to seek opportunities.
Being exclusively asset management driven, we focus entirely on delivering for our clients. We’re here to make an active difference by looking for opportunities that will be relevant and valued not just today, but in the future. We value independence, individuality, and diverse thinking, with a culture that puts collaboration and a spirit of challenge at its heart.
Every day, our people direct their efforts towards creating a better future for our clients, combining human ingenuity with the right technology to provide a high-quality client experience.
Jupiter has assets under management of £51.1bn /$67.0bn /€60.2bn as at 30/09/2024.

Our investment strategy capitalises on long-term global credit trends, offering clients the opportunity to participate in tomorrow's changes and their winners through our expertise in the high-yield market. We have identified and are investing in four key structural challenges that will shape the world of tomorrow: population growth, urbanisation, technological innovation and climate change. As experts in niche strategies with a deep knowledge of the high-yield market, we select a portfolio of issuers positioned to face future challenges in sectors that are driving innovation.

Workshop Objective:

Participants will gain insight into the impact of innovative changes on the credit market and learn how to navigate the challenges that will emerge in the future. 

Company Profile:

La Française offers a range of specialised high-conviction funds combining performance targets and sustainability objectives across all your asset classes. Our multi-specialist architecture allows our managers to focus fully on their area of expertise. Committed to honest responsible investment, our teams have developed cutting-edge expertise in the many facets of ESG, which permeates all our activities and analyses. Our partnership approach to customer relations, combined with the creativity of our teams, means we can design innovative solutions and services tailored to all situations and investment horizons. Our specialist expertise covers listed and unlisted assets, including real estate.

Gyula Toth, lead Portfolio Manager for Macquarie’s Supranational Emerging Market Local Currency Bond strategy will explain how a portfolio invested exclusively in supranational bonds can provide multiple complimentary benefits to your EMD allocation, while aiming to improve the risk / return profile compared to traditional approaches of local currency EMD investing. Gyula will also reflect on the opportunity in EM debt today, and factors such as ESG, diversification, performance, and liquidity in times of stress.

Workshop Objectives: 

To provide investors an alternative, or complimentary, approach to traditional EM LC Debt that delivers improved risk-adjusted outcomes.

Company Profile: Macquarie Asset Management is a global asset manager, integrated across public and private markets. Trusted by institutions, governments, foundations and individuals to manage approximately €569 billion in assets, we provide a diverse range of investment solutions including real assets, real estate, credit and equities & multi-asset.

Macquarie Asset Management is part of Macquarie Group, a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management, finance, banking, advisory, and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie Group employs approximately 20,600+ in 34 markets and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. 

All figures as at 30 June 2024. For more information, please visit Macquarie.com/MAM

European credit remains attractive for long term investors and a significant building block for European fixed income portfolios. Fundamentals, breakeven and valuations to the US remain compelling. Meanwhile the ability of European credit to outperform cash is increasing as the ECB embarks upon an easing cycle.

However, the significant rally in European credit spreads since last autumn reduces the upside for the asset class, especially outside of quantitative easing.  Meanwhile political risk, coupled with slowing economies, could lead to heightened levels of market volatility. All this means investors should expect less beta gains from spread tightening and focus instead on how strong research and active management can boost returns via security and sector selection.

Workshop Objective:

We introduce our top performing Meridian European Credit Fund and discuss our themes to add alpha and the sectors that provide the most opportunity. We also explain the potential risks and disruptions to the benign scenario currently priced by the market.

Company Profile:

In 1924, MFS launched the US’ first open-end mutual fund to give everyday investors access to the markets. One hundred years later, as a full-service global investment manager serving financial advisors, intermediaries, and institutional clients, we celebrate a century of active management. Tested and refined across market environments, our investing approach combines collective expertise, long-term discipline and thoughtful risk management to create value responsibly for clients. Supported by our culture of shared values and collaboration, our teams of diverse thinkers actively debate ideas and assess material risks to uncover what we believe are the best investment opportunities in the market.

With short-term rates still attractive levels, we believe that ultra short-term credit is a relevant option. The ECB will ease policy rates, but we expect the process to be very gradual. Ostrum SRI Credit Ultra Short Plus is a solid option to benefit from the carry of still high short-term rates enhanced by credit spreads, with limited scope for volatility.

At the same time, the Equity volatility risk premium is currently rich as number of uncertainties are supporting implied volatilities: global growth, US election, Fed reaction function, AI leadership, geopolitics. In this context, we believe that Ostrum Total Return Volatility strategy, which aims to harvest the volatility risk premium, offers good diversification opportunity.

Workshop Objective:

Understanding why adding a total return volatility strategy alongside more classic strategy like short term credit can be an opportunity to diversify the risk of your portfolio, maximise returns and benefit from current markets opportunities.

Company Profile:

Our multi-affiliate approach connects you with the independent views and combined expertise of more than 15 active managers. As one of the world’s largest asset managers, we provide a variety of solutions from various asset classes, styles and vehicles. We are committed to promoting sustainable finance and developing innovative ESG products. In consultation with our clients, we continuously evaluate the markets and assumptions to ensure that their strategy meets the long-term goals.

1 As part of the Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2022, Natixis Investment Managers was named No. 18 of the world’s largest asset managers (as of December 31, 2021).

We have seen an unprecedented election cycle this year across the globe - with both major Developed and Emerging economies going through critical, and potentially meaningful electoral shifts. The political landscape remains polarised and uncertain. The macro environment faces a number of cross winds, with central banks around the globe in a position to ease policy rates. However the outlook for growth is fragile, and inflation expectations remain somewhat uncertain with fiscal policies front and centre in terms of potential risks. Brent David, BlueBay Senior Portfolio Manager for the Emerging Markets Team, will share his analysis.

Workshop Objective:

• Look to explore the outlook in the Emerging Market fixed income space, whilst discussing the potential opportunities to navigate through these uncertain times. 
  
  

Company Profile:

RBC BlueBay Asset Management represents RBC Global Asset Management outside of North America and is an active asset manager with expertise across fixed income, equities and alternatives. Our solutions-driven approach means we endeavour to empower our clients with the knowledge they need to help shape their investment decisions. We work and evolve with our clients, creating and customising investment products that meet their needs.

We operate with total transparency throughout the business, providing clients with direct access to our investment teams and fostering a culture that encourages opportunity, resulting in a thoughtful and inclusive organisation that puts people first and delivers for clients. 

Responsible investment is not just an investment focus; it is deeply ingrained into client experience and our work to deliver solutions that support real-world impact. 

It’s time for investors in health care to put the focus back on patients. Peter Hughes, Fund Manager for the Redwheel Life Changing Treatments strategy, believes too many investors have become distracted by “innovation” as an investment theme in health care and he believes investors can uncover more commercially successful companies if they instead focus on solutions that produce the most life changing results for patients. Peter will explain the patient first approach to health care investing and its core themes of life changing drugs, life changing care and health system strengthening.

Workshop Objective:

Attendees will learn about the patient-first approach to health care investing and how this differs to other approaches, such as innovation-led. Attendees will learn about the long-term trends driving health care demand and some of the opportunities that exist for investors outside of the traditional high-income health care markets.

Company Profile:
Redwheel is a specialist, independent investment manager with an active investment heritage built on a foundation of innovation, original thought, and high conviction. 
 
The business was established in 2000 with the ambition to create an environment in which exceptional fund managers can operate with a high degree of investment autonomy and maximise the benefits of their skills over the long-term. 
 
The seven investment teams specialise in providing Sustainable & Thematic Equities, Active Engagement, Emerging Markets, Value & Income and Convertible Bonds. A total of $17.6bn (as at 30th June 2024) is managed across these strategies on behalf of clients who include some of the foremost global institutions and advisors.   With more than 170 people, including 59 dedicated investment professionals, Redwheel has offices in London, Copenhagen, Miami, and Singapore.   
 
Each of the investment teams has acknowledged expertise in their specific fields.  Their autonomy is underpinned by a simple and attractive revenue share model, which unites the business and aligns each team with its client base.  All non-investment functions are centrally managed, ensuring that the governance and risk functions operate independently.  The business is itself independent and privately owned, with a disciplined and engaged non-executive board and a majority employee shareholder base.
 
There is a constant focus on being long term in everything that the team does and how the business is structured. This focus helps to ensure alignment with investors in delivering successful long-term outcomes and underpins Redwheel’s commitment to be responsible investors.
 
Redwheel is the operating brand of RWC Partners. This change of operating brand name was announced in January 2022.

We will discuss where we see the best opportunities in Emerging Markets equities and how the team are taking advantage of them. Our fully integrated top-down and bottom-up process includes successfully understanding the powerful secular growth opportunities that exist in emerging markets - both macroeconomic and thematic - and then identifying specific companies that should benefit and emerge as long-term winners of those high conviction trends. At the stock level we focus on those companies that align with our macro views and that also have stock specific catalysts to ensure their true valuation is realised.

Workshop Objective:

Discuss how TT Emerging Markets has successfully navigated the ever-changing macroeconomic, geopolitical and thematic environment, and generated alpha since 2011 – from both top-down portfolio construction and stock selection.

Company Profile:

TT International (TT) is an alpha-driven specialist, offering a range of long-only and hedge fund strategies across equity and fixed income.  Founded in 1988, we have over 36 years’ experience of conviction investing for a globally diverse institutional client base.  In 2020 TT was acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) which gives us the stability and support of a large multinational; however we remain independently managed by the employees.
Specialist boutique manager: We limit our product range to areas where we possess a competitive advantage. We run high conviction, high active share portfolios and cap capacity early.
Key differentiators:
Top-down/thematic & bottom-up integration: for well over 30 years TT have been integrating top-down and bottom-up research when allocating capital. This has resulted in alpha generated from both top-down portfolio construction and individual stock selection across various strategies over the long-term. 
Mid-cap specialists: TT have always had a specific focus on the SMID-cap segment of the market and this has historically been where we have generated the majority of alpha over time.
Enhanced risk management: TT leverages its hedge fund heritage to apply dynamic and sophisticated risk management techniques to our long-only portfolios. 
Alignment of interests: We believe that nothing focuses the mind on investment quite like having our own assets invested alongside those of our clients. Both the firm and the employees invest alongside our clients (c. 5% of Firm AUM).

Active or index? This is one of the most essential questions asked by investors. Many studies referred to in this context focus solely on a comparison of returns of active funds with those of their index benchmarks. In this session, we look beyond basic comparisons and analyse the drivers of relative returns – starting with the impact of the distributions of returns of the components that make up the market on active investment success all the way to the impact of style factor returns on the relative return of active funds.

Workshop Objective:

Active or Index?  In this session, we look beyond basic comparisons and analyse the drivers of relative returns.

Company Profile:

Vanguard is an investment company unlike any other. It was founded in the United States in 1975 on a simple but revolutionary idea: that an investment company should manage its funds solely in the interests of its clients. We have stood for low-cost, uncomplicated investing ever since. In 1976, Vanguard pioneered the concept of index investing, introducing the first index fund for individual investors in the United States.

Since then, we’ve been helping people reach their goals with low-cost, uncomplicated investments. This approach has earned us the trust of over 50 million investors and allowed us to become one of the world’s largest investment management companies, with USD 9.9 trillion in assets under management (Data as at 31 August 2024).