Posted inHead To Head

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Axa versus M&G

FSA compares two fixed income products: the Axa Sterling Credit Short Duration Bond Fund and the M&G Corporate Bond Fund.
by Rupert Walker

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Manager review

Veteran fixed income manager Richard Woolnough has managed the M&G Corporate Bond fund since February 2004. He is one of the most experienced fixed income managers in the industry, “and also manages the popular M&G Optimal Income and Strategic Corporate Bond funds,” said McDermott.

He began his career at Lloyds Merchant Bank in 1985, moving to Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali two years later and then SG Warburg. In 1995, he became a fund manager at Old Mutual.

Woolnough benefits from regular exchanges with M&G’s 12 other fixed-income fund managers, who have their own areas of expertise, according to McDermott.

This includes Ben Lord, who joined the group in 2007 and was deputy fund manager for this strategy since 2010 before being promoted to comanager in January 2020. Woolnough can also turn to M&G’s 37-strong credit analyst team responsible for conducting proprietary fundamental research.

“The AXA fund has been managed since launch by Nicolas Trindade, a senior member of the firm’s highly experienced UK fixed income team,” said McDermott. He also manages the Global Short Duration Bond Fund and WF Global Credit Bonds. His colleague, Phil Roantree, provides 18 years of portfolio management experience.

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