L&G Dynamic Bond

Richard Hodges, manager of the Legal &General (L&G) Dynamic Bond Trust, has announced his resignation from the firm. We believe this to be a real blow to L&G. The fixed income team is well-resourced, but Richard was the stand-out manager.

The fund has been one of our favourites in the Strategic Bond sector for a number of years and Richard's total return mentality was particularly attractive to bond investors who, in the current environment, are keen to preserve capital as interest rates rise.

We've downgraded the fund to a hold with immediate effect and have decided to replace it on our Core list with the GLG Strategic Bond fund.

We met one of the co-managers for a catch up last week and we like the total return mindset used to manage the portfolio.  The process is very considered and risk aware. GLG has a very strong and stable fixed income team. They manage interest rate risk actively and the risk-adjusted returns have been very good. It has a competitive yield of 3.43% and, while the fund has yet to go through a rough market (it was launched in 2011), we believe the flexibility and focus on risk should hold it good stead and make it a good replacement for the L&G fund within portfolios.
Consequently the following changes have been made to our EasyISAs:

Cautious EasyISA: GLG Strategic Bond replaces Henderson Strategic Bond

Balanced EasyISA: Henderson Strategic Bond replaces Legal & General Dynamic Bond

Income EasyISA: Jupiter Strategic Bond replaces Legal & General Dynamic Bond