Allan Gray Bond Fund
Earn above-cash returns from the bond market
The Bond Fund’s goal is to deliver returns that exceed inflation and cash over the long term, without taking on undue risk.
The Bond Fund is suitable for you if:
- You want to include bonds in your investment portfolio
- You accept a higher risk of capital loss than in money market or cash investments
- You are ideally investing for at least three years
The 'factsheets' contain all the information and disclosures as required by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to be included in minimum disclosure documents and general investor reports.
Portfolio manager commentary as at 30 September 2024
The FTSE/JSE All Bond Index (ALBI) has returned a staggering 26.1% year-on-year to the end of September 2024. As much as the positive post-election market sentiment following the formation of the government of national unity (GNU) has led to this bond rally, the expectation of a pronounced US...
Read morePerformance after fees with all distributions reinvested
as at 30 November 2024 (in rands)
Benchmark: FTSE/JSE All Bond Index.
Annualised Returns
This is a way of reporting the return earned over a period as a percentage per year. Although the figure stated implies that the same percentage return was delivered every year, the actual return in each year may have been more or less than the reported figure, depending on the unit trust’s volatility. Annualised performance reporting simplifies comparison across different time periods and across different types of investments.
Risk measures
as at 30 November 2024
Investment strategy
To achieve the Bond Fund’s goal, we invest in South African interest-bearing securities, including national government, parastatal, municipal and corporate bonds, as well as money market instruments and cash. We try to balance credit risk, duration risk and liquidity risk when selecting investments. We target total returns for investors rather than trying to mirror the returns of the FTSE/JSE All Bond Index. When we cannot find value in the bond markets, our portfolio will be weighted towards cash to achieve better returns.
Fund allocation
as at 30 November 2024
Maturity profile
as at 30 November 2024
What are the costs?
All the Bond Fund’s expenses, including the investment management fee, are deducted before performance figures are calculated. There are no separate or additional costs. The total investment charge is broken down below:
Investment management fee1
View fee breakdownOther expenses2
VAT
Total expense ratio (TER)3
Transaction costs
Total investment charge
1 Investment management fees are charged for the investment manager’s investment research and decision-making. On 1 December 2021, the Bond Fund’s investment management fee changed from the previous performance-based fee to the current fixed fee of 0.5% per year excluding VAT.
2 This includes audit fees, taxes and other administration costs.
3 This is a measure of the actual costs that have been deducted from the unit trust over the past three years to 30 September 2024 (annualised).
4 The investment management fee charged for benchmark performance.
5 The portion of the investment management fee that is charged for performance above or below the benchmark performance.
The investment management fee
A fixed fee of 0.5% per year excluding VAT.
Note: There may be slight discrepancies in the totals due to rounding.
Important information for investors
Collective Investment Schemes in Securities (unit trusts) are generally medium- to long-term investments. The value of units may go down as well as up and past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The Management Company does not provide any guarantee regarding the capital or the performance of its unit trusts. Unit trusts may be closed to new investments at any time in order for them to be managed according to their mandates. Unit trusts are traded at ruling prices and can engage in borrowing and scrip lending.
Performance figures are provided by Allan Gray and are for lump sum investments with income distributions reinvested. Actual investor performance may differ as a result of the investment date, the date of reinvestment and dividend withholding tax. Movements in exchange rates may also be the cause of the value of underlying international investments going up or down. Unit trust prices are calculated on a net asset value basis, which is the total market value of all assets in the unit trust including any income accruals and less any permissible deductions from the unit trust, divided by the number of units in issue. Forward pricing is used and fund valuations take place at approximately 16:00 each business day. Purchase and redemption requests must be received by 14:00 each business day to receive that day’s price. Unit trust prices are available daily on our prices page. Permissible deductions may include management fees, brokerage, Securities Transfer Tax (STT), auditor’s fees, bank charges and trustee fees. A schedule of fees, charges and maximum commissions is available on request from the Management Company.
The Allan Gray Bond Fund yield is current, calculated as at month-end.
The annual management fees charged by both Allan Gray and Orbis (if applicable) are included in the Total investment charge. The total expense ratio (TER) is the annualised percentage of the Fund’s average assets under management that has been used to pay the Fund’s actual expenses over the past three years. The TER includes the annual management fees that have been charged (both the fee at benchmark and any performance component charged), VAT and other expenses like audit and trustee fees. Transaction costs (including brokerage, Securities Transfer Tax [STT], STRATE and Investor Protection Levy and VAT thereon) are shown separately. Transaction costs are a necessary cost in administering the financial product and impacts financial product returns. They should not be considered in isolation as returns may be impacted by many other factors over time including market returns, the type of financial product, the investment decisions of the investment manager and the TER. Since Fund returns are quoted after the deduction of these expenses, the TER and transaction costs should not be deducted again from published returns. As unit trust expenses vary, the current TER cannot be used as an indication of future TERs. A higher TER does not necessarily imply a poor return, nor does a low TER imply a good return. Instead, when investing, the investment objective of the Fund should be aligned with the investor’s objective and compared against the performance of the Fund. The TER and other funds’ TERs should then be used to evaluate whether the Fund performance offers value for money. The sum of the TER and transaction costs is shown as the total investment charge.
You can obtain additional information about your proposed investment from Allan Gray free of charge. Simply email info@allangray.co.za or call our Client Service Centre on 0860 000 654.