Investment Objective

Fund Characteristics

• Invests in U.S. dollar denominated securities.
• The broad sectors that will be represented in the portfolio include government securities, corporate debt securities, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities.

Investment Approach

• A core fund benchmarked against the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index.
• Broad sectors represented in the portfolio include government securities, corporate debt securities, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities.
• Long-only, cash only, U.S. dollar denominated only and unlevered.
• Has the flexibility of having 10% in non-investment grade holdings (bonds typically rated BB or B).
• Duration is a range +/- 10% of the benchmark.

What Makes this Fund Different?

• The William Blair Fixed Income Group believes they have the ability to exploit the inefficiencies in the bond market by utilizing a disciplined investment approach. The total return strategy is built around experienced sector specialists, who apply a bottom-up fundamental analysis portfolio management methodology.
• The two primary performance factors are security selection and sector weights. To a lesser extent, top-down analysis, duration and yield curve positioning are incorporated with their style.
• Sector specialists are responsible for the bond holdings in their sector. Sector specialists are ultimately looking for the best relative performance opportunities on a risk-adjusted basis. These specialists are supported by the resources of the fixed income platform and William Blair’s Investment Management division.