Fund Evaluator:

BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I Overview

BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I (BCGIX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond High Yield Bond fund. Franklin Templeton Investments launched the fund in 2005.

The investment seeks high current income consistent with the preservation of capital over a five-year time horizon. The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets in a diversified portfolio of corporate debt securities including those rated investment grade, below investment grade, or are unrated. It will maintain a dollar-weighted effective duration of less than five years, although it may invest in individual fixed income securities with effective durations in excess of five years. The fund will not typically invest more than 10% of its assets in securities rated at or below Caa1 by Moody's, CCC+ by S&P's and CCC+ by Fitch at time of purchase.

About BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I (BCGIX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 11.81 years: Jack Parker, CFA (2023), William Zox (2006). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and ICE BofA US Corp&HY TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I has 192 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 22.1% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I has 12.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 3.4% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 86.4% (74.0% domestic bond, 12.4% foreign bond and 0.8% convertible bond). BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I has 9.4% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $545 million average for the High Yield Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

BCGIX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the High Yield Bond category. BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I has an expense ratio of 0.61%, which is 34% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I has a portfolio turnover rate of 99%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 72% for the High Yield Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I returned -0.2%, which earned it a grade of B, as the High Yield Bond category had an average return of -0.3%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I has a trailing yield of 6.26%, which is below the 6.28% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

BrandywineGLOBAL Corporate Credit I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.9%, 0.7 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 3.6% over the past year (grade of F), 7.2% over the past three years (grade of D) and 4.1% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 5.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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