As winner of honours in Asia Asset Management’s Best of the Best Awards 2026 for Total Return Credit Investment in the Global Aggregate Bonds category (3 years and 10 years), and for Asia Pacific Equity ex-Japan (3 years), M&G has been recognised for two capabilities that operate in different markets but share the same core strengths: discipline, deep research and repeatability.
The two strategies address different portfolio needs, but both speak directly to what many Asian allocators want today: resilient outcomes, clarity of process and a willingness to look through short-term noise. Total Return Credit Investment strategy is designed to provide a durable, cycle-aware source of income while insulating investors from unpredictable interest-rate moves. The Asia Pacific Equity ex-Japan strategy, meanwhile, offers selective exposure to the region’s structural opportunities without relying on broad thematic bets or macro timing.
Built on research, not noise
The common thread is a strongly bottom-up discipline. In credit, Richard Ryan, co-head of fundamental fixed income, describes M&G’s Total Return Credit Investment strategy as “flexible, benchmark-agnostic, and focused solely on credit risk through a bottom-up, value-based and research driven approach”. Unlike traditional fixed income funds that combine credit and interest-rate risk, the strategy typically manages duration to zero, with returns driven primarily by credit selection rather than government bond yields.
That difference matters through the cycle. Ryan says the strategy is designed to behave differently in rising and falling rate environments. When rates fall, it has historically kept pace with broader fixed income markets through credit selection rather than duration. When rates rise or yield curves steepen sharply, it has been more insulated because it largely avoids interest-rate risk – a feature that may appeal to Asian institutions seeking income without heavy rate exposure.
Ryan’s philosophy is rooted in valuation discipline. “We stopped trying to forecast what might happen in the marketplace and instead focused on one specific question: are we getting paid to take the risk of investing in an individual corporate bond issue?” In expensive markets, that can mean patience rather than activity for its own sake. “If there’s nothing compelling to replace it, we wait,” Ryan says. “There’s no need to force marginal positions.”
The Asia Pacific Equity ex-Japan strategy is built on a similarly research-led framework. David Perrett, co-head of Asia Pacific equity investments, says the team applies a “longstanding, fundamentals-driven approach” across a carefully curated pan-Asia universe of more than 450 companies. The focus is on identifying company-specific mispricing with limited reliance on macroeconomic forecasting. In a region where sentiment often diverges from fundamentals, that approach can create opportunities for patient investors. “By combining long-term engagement, stock-specific conviction and disciplined portfolio construction, we aim to capture idiosyncratic return drivers rather than broad macro themes,” Perrett says.
Resilience across cycles
That focus on fundamentals shapes how both teams think about risk. Ryan says bottom-up credit selection is fundamental to how the strategy is run, with the macro backdrop serving mainly as context. In fully priced markets, that can mean stepping back. “When spreads look rich, we focus on protecting capital,” he says. “We then wait patiently for spreads to normalise or re-price … and redeploy capital from defensive assets quickly, with size and precision, to capitalise on opportunities as value re-emerges.”
Perrett takes a similar view in equities. The team is macro-aware rather than macro-driven, avoiding the temptation to chase fast-moving themes without conviction. In Asia, he argues, long-term drivers such as corporate discipline, cash-flow improvement and governance enhancement often matter more than day-to-day narratives. “Long-term success requires staying anchored in independent research,” Perrett says, because that helps investors “maintain perspective even when markets fluctuate”.
That remains especially relevant in today’s Asian equity landscape. Perrett notes that Asia is home to many of the world’s AI enablers, but says the opportunity set extends beyond that theme. In China, for example, the post-property adjustment is creating bottom-up opportunities among domestically focused businesses that have become leaner, more cash-generative and more disciplined. He also points to attractive Asian currency valuations, lower long-term discount rates than in the US, and dividend yields that exceed government bond yields.
Across both strategies, the message is consistent. M&G is not presenting success as a function of prediction, but of process. Whether navigating credit markets or identifying mispriced companies across Asia, both teams rely on disciplined frameworks built on fundamentals, valuation and long-term thinking. That commitment to repeatability, rather than reaction, underpins the recognition these strategies have received and continues to make them relevant for investors seeking resilient outcomes through market noise.
