Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund vs Mercer Responsible Hedged Global Fixed Interest Index Fund

The most material structural difference between these two funds is their investment approach and resulting portfolio construction. The Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund pursues an active, unconstrained strategy, reflected in concentrated positions — its largest holding, a US Treasury floating-rate note, accounts for 8.42% of the portfolio, followed by Italian government bonds at 6.32% and a credit default swap index position at 5.11%, including exposure to Colombian sovereign debt. The Mercer Responsible Hedged Global Fixed Interest Index Fund, by contrast, tracks an index with a responsible-investment screen and currency hedging built into the mandate; its largest single position is the iShares MBS ETF at 11.99%, while remaining disclosed holdings are individual US Treasuries each below 0.60%, suggesting broad index replication rather than active tilts.

Fee structures diverge meaningfully: Brandywine charges 0.77% annually versus Mercer's 0.43%, a 34-basis-point gap that compounds over time in the income-seeking investor's cost base. Both funds carry a risk indicator of 4 out of 7 and hold identical growth-asset allocations of 0.13%. Fund sizes are comparable — Brandywine at approximately NZD 410.3 million, Mercer at approximately NZD 381.9 million. On the five-year return figure as disclosed, Mercer shows 0.48% against Brandywine's 0.24%, though return periods and calculation methodologies should be confirmed in each fund's source documents before drawing conclusions.

Always verify current fees, returns, and holdings against the source PDS and latest Quarterly Fund Update on FMA Disclose before relying on any figures here.