An indirect subsidiary of Prudential, PPM America is a well-resourced and established fixed income fund manager with significant fixed interest assets under management.
But what does the future hold for bonds? Is now the right time for investors to be returning to the asset class? And is such a large number of assets a good thing or not?
An awful lot hinges on central bankers not making a mistake as QE begins to unwind.
We've already seen a wobble in 2018. The Bank of Japan made one of its unexpected moves, the European Central Bank minutes were more hawkish than expected and rumour had it that China was thinking about putting an end to its US Treasury buying.
The result of all this was a rise in government bond yields. Investment grade credit spreads have continued to tighten.
At more than £21bn, there is, of course, the potential for liquidity concerns, but M&G is acutely aware of this and is closely managing the situation.
The team has already shown it can manage large outflows and inflows effectively over the past three years.
Careful management is going to be key as QE gets reversed. And, in my view, few fixed interest managers can demonstrate that they can add value in the way that Mr Woolnough and Mr Isaacs have done.
Darius McDermott is managing director at Fund Calibre
Note: All performance data is from FE Analytics
