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Strategy Overview

The U.S. Core Plus Fixed Income strategy seeks U.S. bond investments offering the best combination, in our view, of high real yield and attractive fundamentals given our macroeconomic outlook. This value-based strategy is guided by the broad investment themes of our Global Fixed Income team with the goal of maximizing total return while meeting our primary objective of capital preservation in an absolute return framework. To avoid the inefficiencies of multi-sector U.S. bond benchmarks, the team takes a benchmark-aware approach that limits investment to only the few sectors and issues considered most attractive. 

 

 

 

Key Stats*

Strategy AUM 1 $946.1
Inception Date July 1, 2018
Current Yield (%) 7.21

Philosophy

Objective

Our investment objective is to generate long term return and alpha.

Investment Philosophy

We believe that with our top-down, macroeconomic-driven investment approach to seeking value and anticipating risk, we can consistently outperform the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index.

Investment Process Summary

Strategic portfolio decisions, including duration, yield curve exposure, credit exposure, and sector weightings, are based upon the broad investment themes of our global macroeconomic research platform congruent with valuation. The portfolio management team develops a viewpoint on both the valuation opportunity and the business cycle and positions the strategy's duration, sector weighting, and credit exposures accordingly.

Portfolio Construction

The strategy invests in fixed income securities and cash or cash equivalents. We believe skillfully toggling between safe haven and risk-seeking betas can lead to superior risk-adjusted outcomes overtime, and the potential for material increases in absolute return figures. We expect to have exposure in the following sectors: Treasuries, Corporate – IG, Corporate – HY, Agency and Non-Agency ABS/MBS, and Non-US sovereigns, with a focus on U.S. fixed income. Portfolio holdings are limited to our highest conviction ideas.

Duration Management

Portfolio duration typically can range +/-5 years from the benchmark. We have the flexibility to reduce portfolio duration should we believe duration risk poses a significant threat to capital preservation.

 

At a Glance

  • Primary Benchmark: Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index
  • Investment process applies the top-down macroeconomic investment themes of our Global Fixed Income team
  • U.S.-centric fixed income solution that prudently allocates to less traditional market segments in an effort to deliver improved outcomes
  • Investments typically are concentrated in sectors and individual issuers that we believe offer the best total return potential

Portfolio Managers

Jack P. McIntyre, CFA

Portfolio Manager

Anujeet Sareen, CFA

Managing Director & Portfolio Manager

Paul Mielczarski

Head of Global Macro Strategy & Portfolio Manager

Brian L. Kloss, JD, CPA

Portfolio Manager

Tracy Chen, CFA, CAIA

Portfolio Manager

Kevin O'Neil

Associate Portfolio Manager & Senior Research Analyst

Performance*

Characteristics*

Videos

Global Macro Overview

3rd Quarter 2025 | October 14, 2025

Head of Global Macro Strategy & Portfolio Manager Paul Mielczarski says the global economy has held up better than expected and offers his outlook for the rest of the year.

Download Slides | Read Transcript

Paul Mielczarski

Head of Global Macro Strategy & Portfolio Manager

Investment Options

Available Investment Options

U.S. Core Plus Fixed Income
Separate Accounts

General Disclaimers: This material has been prepared by Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC ("Brandywine Global") and is provided to certain qualified institutions, financial intermediaries, and institutional investors for informational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or redistributed without Brandywine Global's prior written approval. This material is not intended to be a forecast, research, or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any particular investment strategy. The information set forth herein has been derived from sources believed to be accurate, reliable, and current as of the date of this material, but is subject to change without notice. The opinions expressed may differ from those of other Brandywine Global portfolio management teams and our affiliates. References to specific securities, asset classes and financial markets are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be, and should not be, interpreted as recommendations. The material was prepared without regard to specific objectives, financial situation or needs of any investor and should not be used as the basis of any investment decision.

Risk: All financial investments involve an element of risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The value of investments and the income derived from investments will fluctuate and a loss of principal can occur.

Foreign securities, foreign currencies, and securities issued by U.S. entities with substantial operations outside of the U.S. can involve additional risks relating to political, economic, or regulatory conditions in foreign countries. These risks include market/currency fluctuations, withholding or other taxes, trading, settlement, custodial, and other operational risks, and less stringent investor protection and disclosure standards in some foreign markets. All of these factors can make foreign investments, especially those in emerging markets, more volatile and potentially less liquid than U.S. investments. In addition, foreign markets may perform differently from the U.S. market.

Transactions in any option, future, commodity, or other derivative product is not suitable for all persons and accordingly, investors should be aware of the risks involved in trading in such instruments. Transactions in derivatives have the potential to increase liquidity risk and introduce other significant risk factors of a complex character. All securities trading, whether in stocks, options, or other investment vehicles, is speculative in nature and involves substantial risk of loss. No assurance, representation, or warranty is made by any person that any of the aims, assumptions, expectations, objectives, and/or goals stated herein will be achieved. Nothing contained in this material may be relied upon as a guarantee, promise, assurance, or representation as to the future.

Fixed income securities are subject to the risks associated with debt securities generally, including credit, liquidity and interest rate risk. High yield and lower-rated fixed income securities involve greater risk than investment-grade securities. Asset-backed, mortgage-backed or mortgage related securities are subject to additional risks such as prepayment and extension risks. High yield bonds possess greater price volatility, illiquidity, and possibility of default.

Equity investments are subject to market risk. The value of investment may fluctuate in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors, and/or general market conditions. Investments in in speculative and/or small-cap, mid-cap and micro-cap companies may involve a higher degree of risk and volatility than investments in larger, more established companies, including such risks as lack of product diversification, potentially insufficient capital resources and greater exposure to business and economic cycles.

Portfolio Structure: Each client’s portfolio is individually managed and may vary from the information shown in terms of allocations, portfolio holdings, characteristics, and performance. Current and future portfolio compositions and performance may be significantly different. Any securities, sectors or allocations referenced may or may not be represented in portfolios of clients of Brandywine Global, and do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold, or recommended for client portfolios. The reader should not assume that any investments in securities, sectors and/or markets identified or described were or will be profitable or that similar investments will be available in the future.

Outlook: Economic and market forecasts presented herein reflect a series of assumptions and judgments as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice. These forecasts do not take into account the specific investment objectives, restrictions, tax and financial situation or other needs of any specific client. Actual data will vary and may not be reflected herein. These forecasts are subject to high levels of uncertainty that can affect actual performance. Accordingly, these forecasts should be viewed as merely representative of a broad range of possible outcomes. These forecasts are estimated, based on assumptions, and are subject to significant revision and may change materially as economic and market conditions change. Certain information or statements contained herein may constitute a forward-looking statement. Forward- looking statements are predictive in nature and speak only as of the date they were made. Brandywine Global assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements refer to future events or conditions and are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations.

Third-Party Ratings: Any unpublished third-party rankings, awards or similar groupings have inherent limitations and qualifications, and are not indicative of the experience of any client or investor or of the future performance of any product described herein. There can be no assurance that the universe upon which the ratings or awards were based included all investment products within each category that are actually in operation or existence. The investment products on which the ratings were based may differ substantially in terms, objective, strategy, target risk return profile and certain other significant respects from those referenced herein.

Indices/Benchmarks: Indices are unmanaged and are not available for direct investment. Indices are not subject to fees and expenses typically associated with separate accounts or investments in funds. References to indices, benchmarks or other measures of relative market performance over a specified period of time are provided for your information only and do not imply that the portfolio will achieve similar results. The index composition may not reflect the manner in which a portfolio is constructed. While an adviser seeks to design a portfolio which reflects appropriate risk and return features, portfolio characteristics may deviate from those of the benchmark.

Selection of Representative Account: Representative accounts are generally the least restrictive account in a composite at the time of selection. Each client account is individually managed; individual holdings will vary for each account and there is no guarantee that a particular account will have the same characteristics as described. Actual results may vary for each client due to specific client guidelines, holdings, and other factors. In limited circumstances, the designated representative account may have changed over time, for reasons including, but not limited to, account termination, imposition of significant investment restrictions, or material asset size fluctuations.

Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”): This material discusses Brandywine Global’s current efforts to integrate responsible and sustainable investing principles into its investment process. Certain examples are provided herein for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be representative of Brandywine Global’s investment process with respect to every investment. ESG investments may be viewed as “sustainable, “responsible”, or “socially conscious” among other names. Analysis and integration of ESG factors is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that the ESG criteria used, or judgment exercised, by Brandywine Global will reflect the values of any one particular investor. Different investment managers may utilize and evaluate ESG factors in different ways. Investing in ESG investments carries the risk that under certain market conditions, the investment strategy may underperform strategies that do not utilize a responsible investment strategy. An investment’s ESG performance or Brandywine Global’s assessment of such performance may change over time. ESG is not a uniformly defined characteristic and information used to evaluate ESG characteristics may not be readily available, complete, or accurate, and may vary across providers and issuers. The ESG considerations assessed as part of the research and investment approval process may vary across eligible investments and not every ESG factor may be evaluated for every investment. There is no guarantee that the evaluation of ESG characteristics will be additive to a strategy or account’s performance.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results.