Voya High Yield Bond Fund Receives Five-Star Ranking from Morningstar as Team Marks Five-Year Milestone
Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that Morningstar has given the Voya High Yield Bond Fund a five-star, overall rating for its class I shares (IHYIX).
The Voya high yield bond team recently reached its five-year anniversary under the leadership of Randall (“Randy”) Parrish, CFA. During that five-year period, Voya Investment Management’s institutional and retail offerings have earned top-quartile return rankings1 and top-decile information ratio rankings2 within their Morningstar and eVestment Alliance peer groups.
“For high yield bonds, the overwhelming majority of risk is issuer-specific credit risk, which is why our approach in managing assets is to identify opportunities and limit credit losses,” said Parrish, who has served as lead portfolio manager for Voya Investment Management’s institutional and retail high yield offerings since March 2010. “We’re proud of our achievements and equally proud of what we’ve been able to deliver to investors.”
Voya Investment Management’s high yield fixed income team manages $3.9 billion in assets. Parrish noted that the team’s view of high yield credit quality is largely unchanged from 2014.
“High yield fixed income spreads are justifiably wider than they were in 2014,” said Parrish. “We see the U.S. economic recovery being solid enough to prevent a turning of the credit cycle broadly and to offset several increased risks, such as energy sector defaults, further weakness in China and other emerging markets and geopolitical risk in oil-producing countries. At current levels, high yield bonds likely have the ability to absorb at least a portion of an eventual rise in interest rates.”
“Our clients look to us for our focus on being a reliable partner committed to reliable investing and we know that core to this is having a great, experienced team that’s dedicated to deep fundamental credit research. By diversifying risk and incorporating multiple return drivers, we have demonstrated an ability to find value and deliver consistent outperformance with lower volatility.”
The Voya high yield strategy is leveraged across multiple platforms, in pure-form vehicles such as the mutual fund and institutional portfolio, and as a component of numerous Voya multi asset strategies and vehicles.
1 Class I shares (IHYIX) of the Voya High Yield Bond Fund ranked 33 out of 504 funds in their Morningstar high yield peer group for the five-year period ended January 31, 2015. See the disclosure at the end of this press release concerning the calculation of Morningstar rankings. For the five-year period ended December 31, 2014, the institutional high yield strategy, in terms of excess return as measured by the Voya High Yield Composite, ranked 14 out of 166 strategies in its eVestment peer group. eVestment Alliance LLC collects information from investment management and other sources believed to be reliable; however, eVestment does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the information provided. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
2 For the five-year period ended December 31, 2014, class I shares of the Voya High Yield Bond Fund had an information ratio of 1.33, placing it fourth in its Morningstar peer group. For the same period, the institutional high yield strategy had an information ratio of 1.26, as measured by the Voya High Yield Composite, placing it third in its eVestment peer group. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Media Contact:
Christopher Breslin
(212) 309-8941
[email protected]
About Voya Investment Management
A leading, active asset management firm, Voya Investment Management manages, as of December 31, 2014, more than $200 billion for affiliated and external institutions as well as individual investors. With 40 years of history in asset management, Voya Investment Management has the experience and resources to provide clients with investment solutions with an emphasis on equities, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies and solutions. For more information, visit voyainvestments.com. Follow Voya Investment Management on Twitter @VoyaInvestments.
About Voya Financial®
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), is composed of premier retirement, investment and insurance companies serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States. The company’s vision is to be America’s Retirement CompanyTM and its guiding principle is centered on solving the most daunting financial challenge facing Americans today — retirement readiness. Working directly with clients and through a broad group of financial intermediaries, independent producers, affiliated advisors and dedicated sales specialists, Voya provides a comprehensive portfolio of asset accumulation, asset protection and asset distribution products and services. With a dedicated workforce of approximately 6,500 employees, Voya is grounded in a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time. For more information, visit voya.com or view our Voya Financial Interactive Company Profile. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.
Principal Risks
All investing involves risks of fluctuating prices and the uncertainties of rates of return and yield inherent in investing. High-Yield Securities, or “junk bonds”, are rated lower than investment-grade bonds because there is a greater possibility that the issuer may be unable to make interest and principal payments on those securities. The Fund may use Derivatives, such as options and futures, which can be illiquid, may disproportionately increase losses and have a potentially large impact on Fund performance. Foreign Investing does pose special risks including currency fluctuation, economic and political risks not found in investments that are solely domestic. Risks of foreign investing are generally intensified in Emerging Markets. As Interest Rates rise, bond prices may fall, reducing the value of the Fund's share price. Debt Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes. Other risks of the Fund include but are not limited to: Credit Risks; Other Investment Companies' Risks; Price Volatility Risks; Inability to Sell Securities Risks; and Securities Lending Risks. Investors should consult the Fund's Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information for a more detailed discussion of the Fund's risks.
An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund(s) carefully before investing. For a free copy of the Funds’ prospectus, or summary prospectus, which contains this and other information, visit us at www.voyainvestments.com or call (800) 992-0180. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Morningstar Rankings
For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar™ calculates a Morningstar Rating based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund’s monthly performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.)
The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Morningstar Rating is for the A share class only; other classes may have different performance characteristics.
The numerical ranking shown indicates the fund’s total-return percentile rank relative to all funds that have the same Morningstar category. The highest (or most favorable) percentile rank is 1 and the lowest (or least favorable) percentile rank is 100. The top-performing fund in a category will always receive a rank of 1. The ranking, for example (46/1229), indicates the fund’s position in its respective Morningstar category.
Disclaimer
Certain information may be received from sources Voya Investment Management (“Voya IM”) considers reliable; Voya IM does not represent that such information is accurate or complete. Certain statements contained herein may constitute "projections," "forecasts" and other "forward-looking statements" which do not reflect actual results and are based primarily upon applying retroactively a hypothetical set of assumptions to certain historical financial data. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and forward looking statements presented herein are valid only as of the date of this document and are subject to change. Nothing contained herein should be construed as (i) an offer to buy any security or (ii) a recommendation as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing or selling any security. Voya IM assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.