Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell comments on today’s news that Invesco’s long serving fixed income managers Paul Causer and Paul Read are to retire at the end of the year.
“Paul Causer and Paul Read have done a phenomenal job for their investors over a very long period of time and have been instrumental at building the £25bn fixed interest franchise, firstly at Perpetual and then subsequently in the larger Invesco business. 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.
“The ‘two Pauls’ have been synonymous with the fixed interest capability at Invesco for longer than most fund research analysts have been in the market and therefore their well-earned retirement at the end of the year will certainly be a loss to the business. However, 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 also 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.”
