Three of Lion Global Investors‘ (LGI) funds have achieved four wins at the Best Funds Awards 2024 by The Edge Singapore. Based on data by Morningstar, the LionGlobal Singapore Fixed Income Investment Class A fund won in the Asia fixed income category and under Singapore bonds in the Morningstar category. The Infinity US 500 Stock Index SGD and Infinity Global Stock Index SGD funds also won under the CPF category.

Established in Singapore in 1986, the asset manager, which is part of Great Eastern Holdings G07 and the OCBC Group, focuses on managing Asian fixed income, equity and multi-asset strategies for both institutional and retail investors.

Incepted on Aug 31, 2001, the LionGlobal Singapore Fixed Income Investment Class A fund invests mainly in bonds and other Singapore dollar (SGD)-denominated debt securities in a bid to achieve steady returns for its investors over time. The fund may also invest in bonds and other debt securities in other currencies.

While the fund is heavily skewed towards Singapore assets at 81.9% as at February 2024, it has a well-diversified mix of sectors. As at February, the fund’s top five allocations are sovereign funds (55.2%), financial bonds (22.8%), real estate (15.2%), industrial (2.8%) and non-cyclical consumer bonds (1.1%).

As at end of March, the fund’s total size is at $197.1 million. As at April 15, the fund’s net asset value (NAV) stood at $1.76. If you had put the minimum initial investment of $1,000 in this fund since its inception, you would have made a 76% gain of $1,760 as at April 1.

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Meanwhile, its Infinity US 500 Stock Index Fund SGD, which has a total fund size of $631.5 million as at the end of March and an NAV of $3.13 as at April 15, tracks the performance of the US stock market. The fund aims to achieve medium to long-term capital appreciation through investing as a feeder fund in the Vanguard US 500 Stock Index Fund, a sub-fund of the Vanguard Investment Series.

According to LGI, this fund provides accessibility to investors with its low startup amount and low costs. Had investors put in the minimum amount of $1,000 at the fund’s inception on May 31, 2000, they would have enjoyed gains of over three times at $3,170 as at April 1.

As at February, the fund’s top five sector allocations are information technology (29.8%), financials (13.0%), health care (12.5%), consumer discretionary (10.6%) and communication services (8.9%).

Finally, the Infinity Global Stock Index SGD Fund also aims to give investors medium- to long-term capital appreciation but this time by tracking the performance of the global stock markets. It is a feeder fund for the Vanguard Global Stock Index Fund.

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As at the end of March, this fund has a total fund size of $246.9 million and an NAV of $2.47 as at April 15. Also incepted on May 31, 2000, investors would have enjoyed returns of about 2.5 times at $2,500 as at April 1, if they had invested $1,000 in the fund on the first day.

As at February, the fund’s top five sector allocations are information technology (24.1%), financials (15.1%), health care (12.1%), industrials (11.1%) and consumer discretionary (10.9%).

In his 2Q2024 outlook, LGI chief investment strategist Lim Yuin says fundamentals are supportive for US equities and there are signs that the market rally is broadening beyond the large capitalised stocks.

That said, US equities may face occasional pull-back on profit-taking as positions are stretched and valuations rich, adds Lim. The upcoming presidential election could also introduce greater policy uncertainties, which could have implications for sector positioning and security selection.

For fixed income, LGI is positive on investment grade bonds, which are supported by benign macro, strong corporate fundamentals and termed-out maturities, especially in the US spreads. “We could see lower carry-driven excess returns due to current valuations, but higher total returns from stronger yield support in 2024,” says Lim.