Lm135 million in bond funds managed by Valletta Fund Management

Valletta Fund Management last week announced that as at June 30, investments in the domestic and international bond markets exceeded Lm135 million. These bond funds, denominated in Lm, euro and sterling, are managed by Valletta Fund Management and advised by Insight Investment Management of the UK.

Commenting at the announcement, Kenneth Farrugia, general manager of Valletta Fund Management, said: "The affinity for fixed income investments has always been significant since Valletta Fund Management's launch of the Vilhena Malta Government Bond Fund, the first of its kind then launched in Malta.

"Looking back over the years since the fund's launch on July 6, 1998, this investment solution has delivered excellent returns for its investors, consisting of an annualised return of 6.70% per annum from launch to June 30, 2005 (an indication of the average return of each fund's accumulator class of shares over a year. Any sharp fluctuations in the performance of the funds over a period of time are not necessarily represented by the annualised return.).

"The Vilhena Malta Government Bond Fund followed on the footsteps of the La Valette Malta Bond Fund, the latter Fund having an exposure to corporate bonds other than government bonds and delivering a strong annualised return of 6.73% from launch on April 30, 1997, to June 30".

Driven by the success of these two funds, and also as a result of the equity market backdrop that prevailed over the years from 2000 to 2003, VFM widened its bond fund range to include the La Valette Sterling Income Fund and the La Valette Euro Income both of which distribute income on a quarterly basis, as well as the La Valette Monthly Income Fund, which is denominated in Maltese Lira and distributes income on a monthly basis.

VFM's La Valette European Bond Fund invests in high quality European bonds with the investment management expertise of Insight Investment Management in London. Insight have delivered strong returns for investors across all these funds, particularly when these returns are viewed in the light of the prevailing low interest rate scenario.

Mr Farrugia added: "Through this range of funds, Valletta Fund Management is to date the only fund management company registered in Malta to provide investors with a choice of six proprietary investment opportunities in the international and domestic bond market denominated in Maltese lira, sterling and euro.

"This range of funds spells out two things for the investors, 'choice' and 'flexibility', that is, the choice to invest in either or both of the domestic and international bond markets through which they can structure a well-diversified portfolio, and the flexibility for the investors to receive income on a monthly, quarterly or six monthly basis."