Citywire, part of the Thomson Reuters group and independent provider of Fund Manager Ratings, has tracked the performance of top bond portfolio managers over a 15 month period, starting from February 2010.

With the European bond market in effervescence since talk of a possible default of one of the European Union's nations were first given credence at the start of 2010, the average return from the 256 managers investing in euro-denominated bonds on the Citywire database was 1.4%, in euro terms (from end February 2010). Over the same 15 month period, the Citigroup EuroBIG (Euro Broad Investment-Grade Bond) index rose 1.1%.

In stark contrast to this, Gregorio Saichin, Pioneer Investments’ Head of Emerging Markets and high yield has seen returns of 17.9% on his Pioneer Funds Euro Strategic Bond, over this same period. He is Number One of the list of managers who have outperformed both their peers and the index in total returns terms.

Confirming the success of Pioneer Investments’ Fixed Income Investment and Research Process this month was the Global Investor/isf 2011 Awards, where the company received an Investment Excellence award for its US Fixed Income strategies.

Global Investor/isf magazine is one of the flagship titles published by Euromoney; its awards recognise the greatest contributions to asset management and asset servicing over the last 12 months.

The Global Investor Excellence Award acknowledges Pioneer’s Investment value-oriented, total return, risk-managed approach to fixed income investing. This is illustrated by the excellent performance of funds such as US Strategic Income, US Aggregate Bond, Pioneer High Yield and Pioneer Global High Yield as well as those available in the Luxembourg-domiciled fund range. The US Fixed Income team led by Ken Taubes, Head of Investment Management US includes 24 portfolio managers, analysts and traders, averaging over 20 years of experience.

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