Quant BuffetRelax, Not Over Thinking

Multifactor Corporate Bond Strategy

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Academic paper

Putting Credit Factor Investing into Practice

AuthorsHendrik Kaufmann; Philip Messow

Institute
  • ?Quoniam Asset Management GmbH
  • ?Robeco Quantitative Investments

Strategy in a nutshell

Universe: USD IG bonds (Financials, Utilities, Industrials) from ICE G0BC index, excluding government and securitized bonds. Compute size, quality, value, momentum, and carry factors monthly. Average ranks across factors → multifactor signal. Long top quintile, equally weighted, monthly rebalanced.

Economic rationale

Functionality comes from diversified, low-correlated factors, capturing complementary sources of return. Each factor (except quality) contributes to outperformance, while low correlation ensures diversification benefits.

Backtest performance

Annualised return2.8%
Volatility1.87%
Sharpe ratio1.5
Maximum drawdown-6.4%