Candriam Bds Euro High Yld C EUR Cap

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|18/12/2023

by Jeana Marie Doubell
On Sept. 23, 2024, Candriam announced that Nicolas Jullien, the group's current head of high yield and credit arbitrage, will assume the role of global head of fixed income on Jan. 1, 2025. He will succeed veteran Philippe Noyard, who is slated to retire in the first quarter of 2025, and who had taken over the global head of fixed income role in 2023. Noyard and Jullien have both risen through the ranks after extensive careers as portfolio managers at Candriam, and this transition seems a natural progression. A 17-year firm veteran, Jullien initially comanaged the firm's high-yield strategies with Noyard for more than a decade before being promoted to lead manager in 2020, and he has kept the strategies in excellent shape since then. The transition has been well anticipated and communicated to investors, which is a welcome example of the parent company's stewardship, though as the changes come into effect we will be looking to better understand the impact they are likely to have on the team's setup.

While Noyard had not been involved in the day-to-day running of the strategies for some time, he had played a key role in defining their investment framework and had remained active in the credit committee, which is responsible for extensively vetting any issuers that enter the high-yield portfolios. He also remained as a comanager on a number of high-yield portfolios. His upcoming retirement will likely be a net loss for the team in terms of experience and investment acumen. In addition, Jullien's workload—in particular his people management responsibilities—will predictably increase with his expanded role. While Jullien can rely on an experienced suite of portfolio managers (including Thomas Joret, who leads the firm's global high-yield portfolios), it remains to be seen how he plans to balance his portfolio management responsibilities with other duties.

At this stage, this team continues to earn our full confidence. We are not making any changes to the People or Process Pillar ratings for the three strategies under analyst coverage (Candriam Bonds Euro High Yield, Candriam Bonds Global High Yield, and Candriam Bonds Global High Yield SRI), though we will continue to reevaluate the situation as the leadership transition unfolds.

 
Candriam Bonds Euro High Yield stands apart from the competition thanks to its stable and tight-knit investment team plying a risk-aware, research-driven investment process. It earns High People and Above Average Process Pillar ratings.

Nicolas Jullien took the helm at this fund, and leadership of Candriam's global high-yield team, in January 2020. He took over the reins from previous high-yield chief Philippe Noyard, who was later promoted to global head of fixed income in May 2023. However, a number of factors made the transitions less disruptive than might have seemed. For one, Jullien had worked alongside industry veteran Noyard in managing this strategy for 13 years before becoming lead, during which time the managers consistently plied a risk-aware and thoughtful process and built a compelling track record. For another, Noyard remains a backup comanager on the strategy. Jullien is further supported by comanagers Thomas Joret, who focuses primarily on the group's global high-yield mandates, and Sichong Qi, named here in 2023 to offer additional support. As one of the team's six experienced high-yield analysts, Qi also maintains research coverage of the automobile sector for the team,

The investment process continues to be based on fundamentally driven security selection combined with relative value considerations. The manager also uses derivatives in moderation to adjust the portfolio's overall credit market sensitivity or to gain exposure to certain highly traded issuers at a lower cost. Unlike many competitors in the euro high-yield bond Morningstar Category, the strategy largely avoids the financials sector, which the managers argue carries policy risks inappropriate for a high-yield portfolio. That restrained opportunity set has not held the strategy back from beating its more broadly invested peer group, however. Its I share class' five- and 10-year returns through November 2023 handily outpaced 90% of its average euro high-yield bond category peers, with lower volatility.

 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™A collegial team with a robust process.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleHigh
ParentAverage
ProcessAbove Average
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
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