Coolabah Active Global Bond Fund delivered net returns of up to 6.20% in the year to 30 June 2026, ahead of its global bond benchmark. The fund also added an ASX-traded ETF class shortly before year-end, while using repurchase agreements and derivatives as part of its strategy.
- Up to 6.20% net return across fund classes
- All established classes exceeded the 4.23% benchmark
- Net assets rose to $379.1 million
- ETF class GFXD began trading on 25 June 2026
- Portfolio includes leverage, derivatives and repurchase agreements
Coolabah Active Global Bond Fund reported a clean year of benchmark outperformance, with its Zero Fee Class returning 6.20% after fees and expenses for the year ended 30 June 2026. The Institutional Class returned 5.31% and the Assisted Investor Class 5.17%, each ahead of the 4.23% return from the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index, hedged to Australian dollars.
The audited report also marks the fund’s move into exchange-traded funds. Its Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF Class began trading on the ASX under GFXD on 25 June 2026, only days before the reporting period closed. The annual report gives little operating history for the new class: it recorded $678,000 in net assets at 30 June and declared no distribution for the year.
Fund assets and class flows
Net assets attributable to unit holders increased to $379.1 million from $310.4 million a year earlier. The largest class, Zero Fee, finished the period with $376.7 million, following applications of $79.0 million and redemptions of $27,000. The other established classes were much smaller, with the Institutional Class ending at $694,000 and the Assisted Investor Class at $1.0 million.
The fund generated $21.3 million in profit before finance costs attributable to unit holders, compared with $7.0 million for the prior comparative period. Interest income from financial assets at fair value through profit or loss rose to $26.4 million, while net gains on financial instruments were $1.8 million, reversing a $478,000 loss in the previous period. The report cautions that returns are stated after fees and expenses but before tax, and that past performance is not a guide to future results.
Bond portfolio carries leverage and rate sensitivity
The result came from a portfolio dominated by fixed-interest corporate securities, valued at $444.8 million, alongside $167.9 million of floating-rate corporate notes and $30.9 million of asset-backed securities. The fund also held $293.9 million of repurchase agreements within financial liabilities at fair value, and used futures, forward currency contracts and interest-rate swaps.
That structure gives the return profile more moving parts than a conventional unleveraged bond portfolio. The fund’s own sensitivity analysis estimated that a 200-basis-point move in interest rates would affect operating profit and net assets by approximately $4.7 million in either direction, while a 10% price movement would imply an impact of $34.3 million. The report says derivatives and repurchase agreements can create leverage, which may magnify both returns and losses.
Ernst & Young issued an unmodified audit opinion, identifying investment existence and valuation as a key audit matter because financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value represented about 88% of total assets and 85% of total liabilities. The next test for the strategy is less accounting-related: whether the newly listed GFXD class can build scale and liquidity while the underlying portfolio remains exposed to interest-rate movements, financing arrangements and daily redemption demands.
Bottom Line?
The fund enters its ETF phase with a strong reported return record, but future results will depend on rates, leverage discipline and whether GFXD develops meaningful scale.
Questions in the middle?
- Can the GFXD ETF attract substantial assets and trading liquidity after its late-June launch?
- How will the portfolio perform if interest rates move materially away from the conditions prevailing at 30 June?
- Will the fund maintain benchmark outperformance as its asset base and class mix change?