10 Aussie and global fixed-income funds that excelled in 2025

Australian fixed-income attracted record levels of capital over the past year, but not all yield is created equal. As the market matures, the gap is widening between funds delivering sustainable returns and those simply chasing headline distribution rates.

The top performers have stayed focused on what matters: cashflow-generating assets, robust structural protections, and disciplined credit selection. Some managers are delivering returns more than 5% above the cash rate, even as competition intensifies and spreads across public markets.

Last year also brought increased regulatory scrutiny, with ASIC shining a light on disclosure practices, a welcome development for investors. 

Globally, fixed-income markets are being reshaped by central bank easing and widening divergence across regions. 

While credit spreads remain tight, there's opportunity in the details: non-U.S. developed markets offer more attractive valuations, European fiscal dynamics are creating relative value plays, and high yield continues to benefit from improved credit quality and low default expectations. 

How we compiled these lists

Our performance data is sourced from Morningstar, and the funds listed are available on Livewire’s Find Funds menu (located in the top-right corner of the webpage). Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all Australian and global fixed-income funds available in the market.

Here’s how we filtered the results:

• Fund type - Managed funds
• Asset class - Fixed-income (Australian; Global)

We then manually refined the list based on 1-year returns.

NOTE: While it is an interesting exercise to examine fund performance over a one-year period, most funds recommend minimum investment periods of five years or more. As such, it would be worthwhile to consider longer-term performance across cycles when researching funds or making investment decisions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future return.

10 top-performing Australian fixed-income funds in CY25

For our top two Australian fixed-income funds, the two coalescing themes were:

#1 Rixon Income Fund 

The Rixon Income Fund is an asset-backed, high-yield, non-property private credit strategy. The strategy is focused on capital preservation and meaningful, regular monthly income. The Fund Target Return is 10-12% p.a. (net) with distributions paid monthly. Livewire spoke to Rixon's Patrick William in September last year about how growth defines the Australian private credit market. 

Private Assets

"Growth": Rixon Capital's Patrick William's one-word verdict on Australia's private credit market

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#2 Manning Monthly Income Fund

On our list for the third time, the Manning Monthly Income targets returns of the RBA cash rate +5% per annum over rolling 5 years, net of fees, with returns primarily delivered as income. Its core strategy focuses on asset-backed securities and diversified credit assets, handpicked and actively managed to deliver consistent risk-adjusted returns. Josh Manning spoke to us last year about how the real challenge is in avoiding issues rather than finding yield.

Private Assets

How Manning managed risk in a tight credit market to deliver 9.40%

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10 top-performing global fixed-income funds in CY25

For the two top-performing global fixed-income funds, these two themes stood out:

#1 Neuberger Berman Global High Yield Fund

The Neuberger Berman Global High Yield Fund is designed to deliver a consistent monthly income stream alongside attractive total returns over a full market cycle. It invests in a diversified portfolio of high-yield bonds issued by large, liquid companies around the world, with active credit selection and a focus on capital preservation. The fund was introduced in Australia in May 2024, giving it just over a year to demonstrate its ability to manage tight credit spreads and extract value across regions and sectors. The following shows the top 10 issuers in the fund as of October 2025:

#2 Pimco Capital Securities Fund 

A repeat top-performer, the PIMCO Capital Securities Fund is a global fixed-income fund that invests primarily in capital securities, including subordinated debt issued by banks, insurers and other financial institutions. The fund was incepted in August 2015 and invests across different levels of the financial capital structure, with exposure spanning senior and subordinated securities. Capital securities typically offer higher yields than senior bonds, but also carry greater sensitivity to issuer fundamentals and market conditions. Livewire spoke to Pimco about their strategy here:

Funds

Top performing funds: How PIMCO delivered a 13.47% return in the financials sector despite peaking bank earnings

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