OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has assigned Lyxor Planet a 'Strong' Fund Quality Rating. The fund is a French-domiciled FCP managed by Lyxor, a subsidiary of Societe Generale (A/Stable/F1).

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Funds Presentation
Lyxor Planet is a flexible multi-asset fund following an active, fundamental investment approach. It invests across a broad, global range of asset classes, through ETFs exclusively. The fund had EUR67m of assets at end-June 2015, and was launched in 2009.

Investment Process
Lyxor's cross asset research identifies asset class scenarios and investment themes that guide the targeted strategic allocation for the fund. A weekly investment committee reviews the portfolio and makes tactical adjustments across asset class, geography and sectorial/strategic themes to take advantage of expected risk-adjusted returns opportunities. The resulting portfolio allocation is highly flexible, and long-only, making full use of large allocation bands (up to 80% for both equities and bonds).

The fund's universe is made up of eight main assets classes: developed and emerging equities, sovereign, corporate and inflation-linked bonds, commodities, volatility, and cash. Asset classes covered are granular, comprising high-dividend, small-cap financials and other sector-specific equities among others, allowing the fund to react swiftly. Risk management is well-embedded in portfolio construction though diversification limits.

Resources
The fund is managed by Florence Barjou, who acts as lead portfolio manager, and Cedric Baron. They are experienced multi-asset investment professionals who have been at Lyxor for nine years on average, and are supported by a PM assistant. Five macro and cross-asset researchers guide discretionary global macro views.

The fund benefits from Lyxor's operational and risk control framework. The operational and IT environment provides for efficient workflow, matching the needs of the fund. Lyxor NAV System (LNS) is the operational front-to-mid-proprietary system used for the fund, which is ultimately due to migrate towards Sophis, already implemented for other Lyxor's funds. The current co-existence of two different order management systems can lead to inefficiencies, in Fitch's view.

Track Record
The fund has returned 27.96% (I EUR share class) over the last three years to end-June 2015 (and outperformed its peers within the multi asset flexible global funds universe since inception in May 2010). It is in the second-best performing quintile over the past three and five years and since inception, with volatility in line with peers at around 7% on average. The fund does not have a stated performance objective or a reference index other than EONIA.

Asset Manager
Lyxor, the fund manager, was established in 1998 and is the wholly-owned asset manager of Societe Generale. It employs 600 staff worldwide and had USD127.5bn of assets under management and advisory at end-April 2015. Lyxor provides investment management products and customised solutions in ETFs and indexing, alternatives and multi-management, and absolute return and solutions.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

The rating may be sensitive to material changes in the investment or operational processes, or in resources dedicated to the funds. A material adverse deviation from Fitch's guidelines for any key rating drivers could result in a downgrade. For example, this may be manifested in significant structural deterioration in the fund's performance.

Fitch's Fund Quality Ratings combine Fitch's experience in qualitative fund analysis with rankings and performance data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company. Fitch's Fund Quality Ratings offer an independent, forward-looking assessment of a fund's key performance and risk attributes and consistency of longer-term returns, relative to peer group or benchmarks. The ratings focus on the fund manager's investment process, key fund performance drivers, risk management, and the quality of the fund's operational infrastructure.