Doubts about the global economy, persistent weakness in the equity markets and bad news from corporates regarding accounting, has London-based Govett Investment Management looking for plain, simple and traditional corporate borrowers. Bob Attridge, fixed-interest manager of the firm's £200 million corporate monthly income fund, says he is looking for long-dated, quality bonds, because, in addition to being concerned about lower-rated corporates, he does not foresee the Bank of England raising rates in the near-term. He says he is considering the upcoming deal from Anglian Water, because, "You can't get much more straight forward than a water company."
Attridge has been putting new assets to work in solid and steady names such as Rexam, Hilton Group, Tate & Lyle, Imperial Tobacco and Svenska Handelsbanken. These are companies from which he is not expecting any big surprises. The firm has also been buying Italy's 6% of '28 over the last few months and may add more as new money comes into the fund. Recently, Attridge sold Pearson's 7% of '14, because he is not optimistic on the media sector, which he believes has the potential to come under more pressure and because the company's share price is looking weak.
