- Principal investment strategy reflects sub-advisor’s long-held belief that issuers with strong ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) profiles can produce better risk-adjusted returns
- Changing the Fund’s name will help shareholders, investment advisors and professional buyers interested in ESG principles locate and consider the actively managed Touchstone Impact Bond Fund.
Touchstone Investments announced that it has renamed the Touchstone Total Return Bond Fund the Touchstone Impact Bond Fund (TCPAX). While the current investment process of the Fund remains unchanged, the new name better reflects the Fund’s investment style and its sub-advisor’s belief that issuers with strong ESG profiles can produce better risk-adjusted returns. EARNEST Partners LLC (EARNEST Partners) remains sub-advisor to the fund and there are no changes to the fund’s investment team.
“The Touchstone Impact Bond Fund can help advisors better address the objectives of their clients who seek a fixed-income allocation for their portfolios, but also want to invest with an active ESG lens,” said Steve Graziano, President of Touchstone Investments. “The holdings of this fund will hold great interest for ESG-oriented investors who are seeking a ‘Distinctively Active’ approach.”
As a fundamental, bottom-up investment manager, EARNEST Partners seeks to maximize duration-adjusted total return by investing in market sectors or fixed income securities that are considered undervalued for their risk characteristics. The manager focuses its investment decisions on the merits of individual securities in light of the relevant geopolitical issues, demographic trends and cultural considerations impacting them. When assessing an issue for its potential to deliver risk-adjusted returns, the asset manager considers a wide range of factors, including but not limited to support for economic development and empowerment, home ownership, affordable housing, job creation, efficient transportation or LEED-certified building construction.
“We believe that a responsible and proactive investment approach to environmental, social, and governance concerns is a key aspect to consistent fixed income returns,” EARNEST Partners’ CEO, Paul Viera. “Changing the Fund’s name will help investors interested in ESG principles locate and consider the Touchstone Impact Bond Fund.”
EARNEST Partners has been the sole sub-advisor of the Touchstone Impact Bond Fund since 2011. Before that, it was the advisor of the predecessor fund.
The Touchstone Impact Bond Fund’s tickers – TCPAX for Class A shares, TCPCX for Class C shares, TCPYX for Class Y shares and TCPNX for Institutional shares – remain the same. Learn more about the Touchstone Impact Bond Fund.
About Touchstone Investments
Touchstone Investments is a Distinctively Active mutual fund company committed to providing investors with access to institutional asset managers who act in a sub-advisory capacity. Managed by sub-advisors with high conviction, concentrated portfolios, Touchstone’s entire equity fund lineup is composed of high Active Share funds, which means their holdings are highly differentiated from their benchmarks. Touchstone’s sub-advisor selection and monitoring approach is built upon the conviction that an asset manager’s organizational stability, quality of its personnel, adherence to its investment discipline and infrastructure represent the elements of repeatable, value-added performance results over time. This philosophy has resulted in a diverse but focused product offering that gives investors a full breadth of investment options across styles and asset classes. The Touchstone Funds are advised by Touchstone Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisor, and are distributed nationally through intermediaries, including broker-dealers, financial planners and institutions by Touchstone Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Touchstone, Touchstone Funds and Touchstone Investments are federal service mark registrations and applications owned by IFS Financial Services, Inc. Touchstone Securities, Inc., Touchstone Advisors, Inc. and IFS Financial Services, Inc., are members of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern). Find more information.
About EARNEST Partners LLC
EARNEST Partners is an independent, employee-owned asset management firm currently advising on more than $20 billion in assets for clients around the world. We offer competitive active and passive equity strategies, in Non-U.S. and U.S. markets, across the market cap spectrum as well as fixed income products to match specific duration objectives. EARNEST Partners seeks to invest in businesses that support their community’s values while providing superior returns to their equity and debt holders. EARNEST Partners is headquartered in Atlanta, GA with research offices in China and Brazil. Find more information.
The Touchstone Impact Bond Fund invests in debt securities which can lose their value as interest rates rise and are subject to credit risk which is the risk of deterioration in the financial condition of an issuer and/or general economic conditions that can cause the issuer to not make timely payments of principal and interest also causing the securities to decline in value and an investor can lose principal. When interest rates rise, the price of debt securities generally falls. Longer term securities are generally more volatile. The Fund invests in investment grade debt securities which may be downgraded by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) to below investment grade status. The Fund invests in non-investment grade debt securities which are considered speculative with respect to the issuers' ability to make timely payments of interest and principal, may lack liquidity and has had more frequent and larger price changes than other debt securities. The Fund invests in U.S. government and agency securities which are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury and are not guaranteed against price movements due to changing interest rates. The Fund invests in mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities which are subject to the risks of prepayment, defaults, changing interest rates and at times, the financial condition of the issuer. The Fund invests in mortgage dollar rolls which involve increased risk and volatility, as the securities the Fund is required to repurchase may be worth less than the securities that the Fund originally held. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk. The advisor engages the sub-advisor to manage the Fund's portfolio; the sub-advisor's judgment may impact the Fund's performance.
Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of a Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus and the summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Fund. To obtain a prospectus or a summary prospectus for Touchstone Funds, contact your financial advisor, download and/or request Resources or call Touchstone at 800.638.8194. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before investing.
Company Contact:
Sharon Karp
Touchstone Investments
(513) 362-8026
sharon.karp@TouchstoneFunds.com
Media Contact:
José Marques
Western & Southern Financial Group
(513) 629-1488
jose.marques@westernsouthernlife.com
