How we build your fixed income
The fixed income in your separately managed account (SMA) is built around a simple set of principles: we use specialist managers we know well and research on an ongoing basis; we favour strategies that are liquid and priced daily; and we hold portfolios that are diversified across many issuers and invested predominantly in high-quality, publicly traded credit and government bonds. This concept carries across both the Australian and global fixed interest parts of your portfolio.
These are deliberate choices. Daily liquidity means we can always see a price and, if we need to, act quickly. Diversification means no single borrower or project can have an outsized impact. And a strong bias to investment-grade, publicly traded credit means the assets are researched, rated and dealt in open markets rather than locked away. Together, these features are designed to give you a resilient, transparent core — reliable income with a smoother ride.
These portfolios are built by the Boutique Investment Committee with the support of Australia’s leading managed accounts provider, Evidentia Group, a group with $40.5bn of funds under management.
The managers in your Australian fixed income
Clients have access to several Australian fixed income managers across Boutique’s various portfolios. This fixed income is run by specialists we have researched and continue to monitor. Each manages a liquid, daily-priced strategy, and together they span government bonds, senior investment-grade credit, public asset-backed securities and selected higher-yielding credit. They are all daily unit priced.
We monitor what each manager holds. Most invest in public, daily-priced credit; one — the Alexander Credit Income Fund — also holds a portion (around 19% per its July 2026 factsheet) in private, asset-backed “warehouse” credit, which finances diversified pools of loans and is structured with credit protections. That is different again from direct, single-name property lending, discussed below.
Where Boutique’s Australian fixed income managers invest
Across the spectrum, Australian fixed income managers, public and private credit are often discussed together, but they behave very differently. Public fixed income of the kind your SMA holds is diversified across many issuers, is predominantly investment grade, is valued daily and can generally be traded. Concentrated private property credit, by contrast, tends to be exposed to a small number of borrowers and projects, is valued periodically rather than daily, and can be difficult to exit quickly.
Private credit is not a single thing. Asset-backed “warehouse” facilities that finance diversified pools of loans — which one of your managers holds — sit at one end of the spectrum, while concentrated lending to a single property developer sits at the other. The two carry very different risks.
A word on direct property lending
Direct property lending — where investors lend to a developer or project, often through a private credit fund — has grown quickly, and for understandable reasons. The returns on offer can be attractive, reflecting the additional yield investors earn for accepting illiquidity, complexity and construction or development risk. Used well, it can be a valuable part of a broader wealth strategy for suitable investors.
But it is an area where outcomes depend heavily on the manager. Unlike a diversified, publicly traded bond fund, a direct property loan concentrates risk in a single borrower and project, is not priced daily, and cannot easily be sold. What protects investors is the quality of the people running the strategy: their underwriting discipline, the security they take, how conservatively they value assets, their track record through previous cycles, how much of their own capital sits alongside yours, and — crucially — their ability to manage a loan when a borrower runs into difficulty.
In short, in direct property lending it is all about knowing the manager. The headline yield matters far less than the diligence behind it. That is the same principle we apply to the managers in your SMA, and the same standard we bring to any direct property opportunity considered for clients who invest in this area outside their SMA.
In the news: the Bathla collapse
In late August 2026, western Sydney developer Bathla Group entered voluntary administration owing a reported $3–$3.6 billion, much of it to private credit and non-bank property lenders; ASIC’s chair called it the “first significant crack” in Australia’s private credit market. As a precaution we contacted every manager in your fixed income sleeve: all have confirmed they hold no exposure to Bathla Group. Your SMA holds no direct, single-name property development loans of this kind — a reminder that in this part of the market, knowing the manager is everything.
Our perspective
Your SMA’s fixed income is deliberately built around liquid, high-quality, well-researched managers. That approach is designed to deliver reliable income while keeping your core portfolio transparent and able to respond to change.
Your adviser can provide you with a Portfolio Summary Report which will provide you with a detailed rundown of each manager in your portfolio. As always, we are happy to talk through any of this with you.
Sources: public reporting (ABC News, The Guardian, the Australian Financial Review) and ASIC public statements, August 2026; fund factsheets (July 2026). Manager confirmations were provided by the respective managers and are current at the date of this note.
The information contained in this document is provided by Evidentia. Evidentia means Evidentia Group Holdings Pty Ltd ACN 665 634 382 and its subsidiaries. All financial services included in this communication are authorised by Evidentia Financial Services Pty Ltd ACN 664 546 525 AFSL 546217. It is general information only and does not constitute financial product advice. If any statements made (either alone or together) constitute advice, then the advice is general advice only and does not take into account anyone’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision based on this material you should consider whether it is appropriate to your particular circumstances. Where the material relates to the acquisition or possible acquisition of a financial product, you should obtain a disclosure document relating to the product and consider the content before making any decision about whether to acquire the product. Please refer to your financial adviser for further details and any disclosure documents relevant to you. This document is based on information considered to be reliable. It is based on our judgement at the time of issue and is subject to change. No representation, warranty or undertaking is given or made in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in this document. Except for liability that cannot be excluded, Evidentia, its directors, employees, agents, and related bodies corporate disclaim all liability in respect of any error or inaccuracy in, or omission from, this document and any person’s reliance on it. This material is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation. If this document contains any performance data, then performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
