Valletta Fund Management announced that as at 30 June, 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 on these results, 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 to be launched in Malta. Looking back over the years since the fund’s launch on 6 July 1998, this investment solution has delivered excellent returns for its investors consisting of an annualised return of 6.70 per cent per annum from launch to 30 June.”
The Vilhena Malta Government Bond Fund followed in 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 per cent from launch on 30 April 1997 to 30 June 2005.
Driven by the success of these two funds, and also as a result of the equity market backdrop that prevailed from 2000 to 2003, Valletta Fund management further 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.
Valletta Fund Management also provides the opportunity to invest in high quality European bonds through the La Valette European Bond Fund. Investors in these funds have benefited from the Investment Management expertise of Insight Investment Management in London, which have delivered strong returns for investors across all these funds, particularly when these same returns are viewed in the light of the prevailing low interest rate scenario.
Mr Farrugia continued, “Through this range of funds, Valletta Fund Management is to date the only fund management company registered in Malta that provides investors with a choice of six proprietary investment opportunities in the international and domestic bond market denominated in Maltese lira, sterling, 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 avail themselves of the opportunity to receive income* on a monthly, quarterly or six-monthly basis.