Toronto-based Invesco Canada Ltd. announced several updates to its mutual fund lineup on Friday.
First, Invesco is looking to change the investment objective of Invesco Advantage Bond Fund to allow for a global multi-sector approach. This will permit the fund to better leverage the Invesco Fixed Income team’s global depth and sector expertise, the company says in a news release.
The multi-sector approach will give greater diversification across four broad asset classes: global investment-grade credit, global high-yield credit, emerging-markets debt and bank loans. The strategy aims to provide a positive total return over a full market cycle.
This change is subject to securityholder approval and a securityholder meeting will be held at Invesco’s offices in Toronto July 17. If approved, the fund will be renamed Invesco Active Multi-Sector Credit Fund as of July 27.
Michael Hyman, Matthew Brill, Rashique Rahman and Jason Trujillo will join existing members of the portfolio team, Joseph Portera, Jennifer Harviksen, Avi Hooper and Ken Hill.
Invesco is also making changes to the investment strategy for Invesco Canadian Bond Fund by started a “core plus” approach, which includes an allocation to high-yield and non-traditional fixed-income securities, such as floating-rate loans and emerging-market bonds.
The funds will be renamed Invesco Canadian Core Plus Bond Fund and Invesco Canadian Core Plus Bond Class, respectively.
“Core” fixed-income securities usually include government bonds and investment-grade corporate bonds. These securities are mainly from developed markets and of high credit quality. “Plus” fixed-income securities typically include bonds or loans that have a higher credit risk, such as high-yield bonds, floating-rate loans and emerging-market bonds.
“Combining the ‘core’ and ‘plus’ fixed-income securities in a portfolio can help the portfolio to achieve a higher expected return for a similar level of risk compared to a portfolio comprised solely of ‘core’ fixed-income securities,” the firm says. The diversification benefit of the “core plus” can also help the fund’s risk profile.
Changes to the funds will be effective June 8.
Furthermore, Invesco is proposing to alter the investment object of four PowerShares funds. These include PowerShares 1-5 Year Laddered Corporate Bond Index Fund, PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index Class, PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index Class and PowerShares FTSE RAFI Canadian Fundamental Index Class.
These changes are expected to increase trading efficiency because the portfolio management team will invest in the Invesco ETF that tracks each fund’s respective index, rather than buying and selling underlying securities that are components of each index, the firm says.
These changes are subject to securityholder approval and a securityholder meeting will be held at Invesco’s offices in Toronto on July 17. If approved, the new objectives will be effective July 27.
Lastly, Invesco plans to reduce the management and advisory fee of Invesco Canadian Bond Fund, Series F from 0.65% to 0.50% and Series PF from 0.50% to 0.45%. Additionally, the management and advisory fee of Invesco Short-Term Bond Fund, Series F will be lowered from 0.65% to 0.40%. All fee reductions will be effective June 8.