Artio Global High Income Fund

Fund Overview

For Artio Global High Yield's management team, a bond's beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.   

As of April 04, 2012, the fund has assets totaling almost $3.62 billion invested in 237 different holdings. Its portfolio consists primarily of junk bonds.  

High-yield bonds--often referred to as junk bonds--are those rated BB or lower. (Ratings agencies like Standard & Poor's, Fitch, and Moody's evaluate the riskiness of bonds--whether issued by governments or corporations--and assign ratings to the individual securities.) High-yield bonds are considered risky because the issuers have a higher probability of defaulting on their debt. Over the past few years, high-yield funds have experienced somewhat of a roller-coaster ride. In 2008, when defaults abounded, the category got hammered. That year, the average fund in Morningstar's high-yield bond category lost upwards of 26 percent. This fund shed 24 percent. Since 2009, though, high-yield bond funds have been undergoing a heated rally. In 2009 and 2010, the fund gained upward of 60 percent over the two years. With interest rates still at historic lows, yield-starved investors have been eyeing junk bonds with increased enthusiasm. 

Still, this is hardly your typical junk bond fund. For starters, as its name implies, it has a global focus, and roughly 16 percent of its bond holdings are invested outside of the United States. Meanwhile, the fund also invests fairly heavily in packages of leveraged loans made by banks. Finally, it's underweight on both the high and low ends of the junk spectrum. That means that its bread-and-butter area is B-rated bonds, which are riskier than BB bonds but still safer than, say, CCC bonds. The fund has returned 1.53 percent over the past year, 20.24 percent over the past three years, and 7.14 percent over the past five years.

Investment Strategy

According to the fund's prospectus: "The Adviser uses a top-down/bottom-up process which brings together insights related to issue, industry, asset class, macroeconomics, maturity and sector. The Adviser seeks to identify stable to improving investment opportunities through an approach which examines the industry in which an issuer operates as well as how that industry is evolving."

Role in Portfolio

Morningstar calls this fund a "supporting player." 

Management

Gregory Hopper manages the fund.

Performance

The fund has returned 1.53 percent over the past year, 20.24 percent over the past three years, and 7.14 percent over the past five years.

Hypothetical Growth of $10,000

Updated 03.31.2012

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Holdings

The fund invests in junk bonds.   
 

Asset Allocation

	% Long	% Short	% Net
Cash	3.29	0.0	3.29
Stocks	0.39	0.0	0.39
Bonds	47.75	0.0	47.75
Other	8.3	0.22	8.08
Foreign Bonds	37.81	0.09	37.72
Foreign Stocks	0.0	0.0	0.0
Convertible	0.13	0.0	0.13
Preferred	2.64	0.0	2.64

Updated 01.31.2012

Top Holdings

Performance as of 03.31.2012

Portfolio as of 01.31.2012

	% Net Assets
Level 3 Fing 10%	1.61
Univision	1.55
Ineos Holdings Limited	1.53
Intelsat Jackson Hldgs 144A 7.25%	1.47
Macdermid 144A 9.5%	1.32

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Fees

Artio Global High Income Fund has an expense ratio of 0.99 percent.   

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Risk

In exchange for high yields, the fund risks being stung by defaults.   

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