N-CSR 1 d550743dncsr.htm BRANDYWINEGLOBAL - GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES BOND FUND BrandywineGLOBAL - Global Opportunities Bond Fund

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM N-CSR

 

 

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811-22338

 

 

Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

 

 

100 International Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21202

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

 

 

Marc A. De Oliveira

Franklin Templeton

100 First Stamford Place

Stamford, CT 06902

(Name and address of agent for service)

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 877-6LM-FUND/656-3863

Date of fiscal year end: December 31

Date of reporting period: December 31, 2023

 

 

 


ITEM 1.

REPORT TO STOCKHOLDERS

The Annual Report to Stockholders is filed herewith.


LOGO

 

Annual Report   December 31, 2023

BrandywineGLOBAL —

GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES

BOND FUND

 

 

 

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted new regulations that will result in changes to the design and delivery of annual and semi-annual shareholder reports beginning in July 2024.

If you have previously elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will continue to do so and need not take any action.

Otherwise, paper copies of the Fund’s shareholder reports will be mailed to you beginning in July 2024. If you would like to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Fund electronically instead of by mail, you may make that request at any time by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you are a direct investor, enrolling at franklintempleton.com.

You may access franklintempleton.com by scanning the code below.

 

LOGO

 

LOGO

 

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE


What’s inside  
Letter from the president     II  
Fund overview     1  
Fund at a glance     9  
Fund expenses     10  
Fund performance     12  
Schedule of investments     14  
Statement of assets and liabilities     19  
Statement of operations     21  
Statements of changes in net assets     22  
Financial highlights     23  
Notes to financial statements     30  
Report of independent registered public accounting firm     45  
Additional information     46  
Important tax information     52  

 

Fund objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to maximize total return consisting of income and capital appreciation.

 

Letter from the president

 

LOGO

 

Dear Shareholder,

We are pleased to provide the annual report of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund for the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2023. Please read on for a detailed look at prevailing economic and market conditions during the Fund’s reporting period and to learn how those conditions have affected Fund performance.

As always, we remain committed to providing you with excellent service and a full spectrum of investment choices. We also remain committed to supplementing the support you receive from your financial advisor. One way we accomplish this is through our website, www.franklintempleton.com. Here you can gain immediate access to market and investment information, including:

 

 

Fund prices and performance,

 

 

Market insights and commentaries from our portfolio managers, and

 

 

A host of educational resources.

We look forward to helping you meet your financial goals.

Sincerely,

 

LOGO

Jane Trust, CFA

President and Chief Executive Officer

January 31, 2024

 

 

II

   BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund


Fund overview

 

Q. What is the Fund’s investment strategy?

A. The Fund seeks to maximize total return consisting of income and capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in fixed income securities of issuers located in developed market countries. Any country that, at the time of purchase, has a sovereign debt rating of A- or better from at least one nationally recognized statistical ratings organization (“NRSRO”) or is included in the FTSE World Government Bond Index (USD) (Unhedged)i is considered a developed country. The Fund will invest in both investment grade and below investment grade fixed income securities, and intends to invest less than 35% of its net assets in below investment grade fixed income securities (commonly known as “high yield debt” or “junk bonds”). We intend to maintain an average weighted portfolio quality of A- or better, whether composed of rated securities or unrated securities that we deemed to be of comparable quality. The Fund’s investments may include securities of sovereign governments and supranational organizations. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its net assets in convertible debt securities.

The Fund may invest in currency forwards in order to hedge its currency exposure in bond positions or to gain currency exposure. In addition, the Fund may engage in a variety of transactions using derivatives such as bond futures, interest rate futures, swaps (including interest rate and total return swaps), credit default swaps (including buying and selling credit default swaps), and options. The Fund may use derivatives to enhance total return, to hedge against fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency exchange rates, to change the effective duration of its portfolio, to manage certain investment risks and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities or currencies. These investments may be significant at times. Although we have the flexibility to use these instruments for hedging purposes, we may choose not to for a variety of reasons, even under very volatile market conditions. Derivative instruments are taken into account when determining compliance with the Fund’s 80% investment policy. The Fund will normally hold a portfolio of fixed income securities of issuers located in a minimum of six countries.

Although the Fund invests primarily in issuers in developed market countries as defined above, the Fund may also invest in issuers in emerging market countries, and some of the countries that the Fund considers to be developed may still have certain economic or other characteristics that are considered developing and are similar to emerging market countries.

The Fund may invest in securities of any maturity. The weighted average effective duration of the Fund’s portfolio, including derivatives, is expected to range from one to ten years, but for individual markets may be greater or lesser depending on our view of the prospects for lower interest rates and potential capital gains. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified,” which means it may invest a larger percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

We follow a value approach to investing and therefore seek to identify relative value in the global bond markets. We define as undervalued those markets where we believe real interest rates are high and the currency is undervalued with the potential to appreciate. We will focus investments in those undervalued markets where we believe cyclical business

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

1


Fund overview (cont’d)

 

conditions as well as secular economic and political trends provide the best opportunity for declining interest rates and a return to lower real rates over time.

Q. What were the overall market conditions during the Fund’s reporting period?

A. The global fixed income market was volatile, but ultimately generated a positive return over the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2023. Looking back, the market rallied over the first quarter, but those gains were erased in the second and third quarters. The market’s initial ascent occurred against a backdrop of shifting expectations regarding global monetary policy and a “flight to quality” given a regional banking crisis. The market then declined as inflation remained elevated and triggered expectations for a “higher for longer” interest rate environment. The market then rallied sharply over the fourth quarter, as the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (the “Fed”) “pivoted” by indicating an end to its monetary tightening campaign and announcing its intention to cut rates three times in 2024. Moderating inflation and hopes that the Fed would orchestrate a “soft landing” for the economy also supported investor sentiment. Against this backdrop, most spread sectors (non-U.S. Treasuries), including investment-grade and high yield corporate bonds, as well as mortgage-backed securities, generated solid results over the reporting period.

On the monetary policy front, after raising interest rates to a twenty-two year high, the Fed held rates steady from September through December 2023, as it monitored incoming economic data. As discussed, toward the end of the year the Fed signaled the likely end to rate hikes. Similar trends occurred in several other developed market countries. The European Central Bank (“ECB”) raised rates to a record high and the Bank of England (“BoE”) hiked rates to a fifteen-year high. With inflation moderating, both central banks held rates steady in the fourth quarter of 2023 and suggested that rates cuts were possible in 2024. In contrast, the Bank of Japan (“BoJ”) maintained its accommodative monetary stance throughout the year.

After rising over the first three quarters, the U.S. dollar gave back its gains toward the end of 2023. The Fed’s pivot and market expectations for aggressive rate cuts in 2024 pushed the greenback down 2.1% during the year, its first annual decline since 2020. Meanwhile, the euro and pound gained 3.1% and 5.4%, respectively, against the U.S. dollar in 2023. While the ECB and BoE are also expected to cut rates, it is anticipated that they will be less aggressive than the Fed. Elsewhere, the Japanese yen fell 7.0% in 2023 given the BoJ’s ultra-loose monetary policy. For the year as a whole, emerging market currencies generated mixed result versus the U.S. dollar.

All told, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Indexii returned 5.72% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023. Investors who took on additional risk were rewarded over the reporting period. Global high yield corporate bonds, as measured by the Bloomberg Global High Yield Index (USD) (Hedged)iii, returned 13.66%. Meanwhile, the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Globaliv returned 10.45%.

Q. How did we respond to these changing market conditions?

A. Bonds entered 2023 at an elevated yield level compared to the recent past. Looking across the global bond universe, real and nominal yields were significantly higher than they were at the end of 2022, 2021 and 2020. Therefore, the Fund was postured with a duration overweight for much of the year — the important duration changes occurred at the country

 

 

2

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

and sector level. U.S. Treasuries duration was initially invested on the 30-year part of the curve. However, as U.S. economic data came in stronger than expected throughout the year, we rolled down the curve and added five- and ten-year U.S. Treasuries exposure. After the strong fourth quarter 2023 rally, we slightly reduced our U.S. Treasuries overweight and reinvested the proceeds in U.S. agency pass-through mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”). The Fund’s MBS allocation was increased throughout the year as spreads widened and the economics of the residential housing sector in the U.S. remained supported by supply issues.

The Fund’s developed market exposure was primarily invested in high-quality sovereign bonds across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific. During the first half of the reporting period, we were overweight duration in the U.S., France, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea, and neutral-weight duration in Germany. As the year progressed, we eliminated the Fund’s exposures in France and New Zealand and initiated a large overweight in U.K. gilts because there were clear signs their economy was slowing. Throughout the year, the Fund was underweight Japanese government bonds relative to the FTSE World Government Bond Index (USD) (Unhedged) given the inflation dynamic in the country was changing and we believed the BoJ’s interest rate policy was no longer appropriate.

Emerging market sovereign bond exposure was relatively constant throughout 2023. We began the year with an overweight in Latin America because spreads were extremely wide relative to U.S. Treasuries and inflation was falling rapidly. The allocation was invested amongst commodity exporters in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa. An overweight of local Polish government bonds was eliminated mid-year after strong performance from both the bonds and the Polish zloty. The Fund’s investment in Colombia was increased as the year progressed given favorable fundamentals and a compelling macroeconomic environment in the country.

The Fund continued to invest in a diversified currency portfolio, while also moving deeper into a U.S.-dollar underweight position. While the U.S.-dollar has benefited from a strong economy and relative yields, it remains overvalued, and select countries are nearer to rate cuts. The Fund remains oriented towards developed market currencies, including a modest overweight to the Japanese yen. Elsewhere, the Fund increased its exposure to the dollar block (Australia dollar, New Zealand dollar and British pound) on the back of good valuations and reasonable yield profiles. We also added to a range of Latin American currencies as the carry opportunities are attractive and their falling inflation profiles allows central banks in these countries to cut rates. This bolsters the growth outlook and, in turn, their currencies.

The Fund used developed market sovereign bond futures to help manage its bond exposure. The use of these instruments modestly detracted from performance. Currency forwards, which were used to help manage the Fund’s currency exposures, also detracted from performance.

Performance review

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, Class IS shares of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund returned 7.42%. The Fund’s unmanaged benchmark, the FTSE World Government Bond Index (USD) (Unhedged), returned 5.19% for the same period.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

3


Fund overview (cont’d)

 

Performance Snapshot as of December 31, 2023 (unaudited)  
(excluding sales charges)   6 months     12 months  
BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund:    

Class A

    3.54     6.85

Class C

    3.30     6.21

Class C11

    3.37     6.25 %2 

Class FI

    3.59     6.83

Class R

    3.47     6.57

Class I

    3.66     7.23

Class IS

    3.85     7.42
FTSE World Government Bond Index (USD) (Unhedged)     3.47     5.19

The performance shown represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results and current performance may be higher or lower than the performance shown above. Principal value, investment returns and yields will fluctuate and investors’ shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. To obtain performance data current to the most recent month-end, please visit our website at www.franklintempleton.com.

All share class returns assume the reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value and the deduction of all Fund expenses. Returns have not been adjusted to include sales charges that may apply or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions. If sales charges were reflected, the performance quoted would be lower. Performance figures for periods shorter than one year represent cumulative figures and are not annualized.

Fund performance figures reflect fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, without which the performance would have been lower.

The 30-Day SEC Yields for the period ended December 31, 2023 for Class A, Class C, Class C1, Class FI, Class R, Class I and Class IS shares were 4.98%, 4.57%, 4.73%, 5.34%, 5.07%, 5.52% and 5.69%, respectively. Absent fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the 30-Day SEC Yield for Class C1 shares would have been 4.58%. The 30-Day SEC Yield, calculated pursuant to the standard SEC formula, is based on the Fund’s investments over an annualized trailing 30-day period, and not on the distributions paid by the Fund, which may differ.

 

Total Annual Operating Expenses (unaudited)

As of the Fund’s current prospectus dated May 1, 2023, the gross total annual fund operating expense ratios for Class A, Class C, Class C1, Class FI, Class R, Class I and Class IS shares were 1.00%, 1.67%, 1.53%, 1.00%, 1.26%, 0.67% and 0.56%, respectively.

Actual expenses may be higher. For example, expenses may be higher than those shown if average net assets decrease. Net assets are more likely to decrease and Fund expense ratios are more likely to increase when markets are volatile.

 

1 

Class C1 shares are not available for purchase by new or existing investors (except for certain retirement plan programs). Class C1 shares continue to be available for dividend reinvestment and incoming exchanges.

 

2 

Total return information is based on net asset values calculated for shareholder transactions. Certain adjustments were made to the net assets of the Fund at December 31, 2022 for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, adjusted total returns have been disclosed in the Financial Highlights and differ from those reported here.

 

 

4

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

As a result of expense limitation arrangements, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets will not exceed 1.00% for Class A shares, 1.75% for Class C shares, 1.45% for Class C1 shares, 1.00% for Class FI shares, 1.25% for Class R shares, 0.75% for Class I shares and 0.65% for Class IS shares. In addition, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses for Class IS shares will not exceed the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses for Class I shares. These expense limitation arrangements cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund. This management fee waiver is not subject to the recapture provision discussed below.

The manager is permitted to recapture amounts waived and/or reimbursed to a class within three years after the fiscal year in which the manager earned the fee or incurred the expense if the class’ total annual fund operating expenses have fallen to a level below the expense limitation (“expense cap”) in effect at the time the fees were earned or the expenses incurred. In no case will the manager recapture any amount that would result, on any particular business day of the Fund, in the class’ total annual fund operating expenses exceeding the expense cap or any other lower limit then in effect.

Q. What were the leading contributors to performance?

A. The Fund’s investments in both sovereign bonds and currencies were additive to performance over the reporting period. Allocations to emerging market sovereign bonds were the largest outperformers. We saw a significant valuation opportunity in local currency emerging markets, driven by high nominal yields, peaking inflation following aggressive rate-hiking cycles, and elevated political risk premia in several markets. Investments in Brazil, Colombia, and Poland were the largest contributors to performance. The Polish bonds were sold in the second quarter of 2023 after a strong rally.

Interest rate volatility across most of the developed world weighed on overall developed market performance. However, the Fund’s U.K. gilt overweight initiated during the second quarter of the reporting period was the largest outperformer as inflation fell precipitously in the country. U.S. fixed income duration was also additive over the reporting period, as U.S. Treasuries and MBS securities rallied significantly during the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Fund’s currency (FX) positioning also contributed to performance. Emerging market FX exposure in Brazil and Colombia, as well an underweight to the Chinese yuan, were the largest outperformers. An overweight in the Australian dollar was the largest developed market outperformer.

Q. What were the leading detractors from performance?

A. Underweights to European bonds and the euro were the largest relative underperformers during the reporting period. European bonds rallied over the second half of the year and the currency appreciated against the U.S. dollar. Eurozone growth disappointed in 2023, with the region continuing to experience below-trend gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth while avoiding an outright recession. Eurozone GDP growth has been held back by a combination of an aggressive ECB tightening cycle, subdued global goods demand, and the residual impact of the 2022 energy market shock. In addition, fiscal policy has been much less growth supportive in the euro area than in the U.S.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

5


Fund overview (cont’d)

 

Elsewhere, the Fund’s underweight Japanese duration and overweight Japanese yen also detracted from performance. There has been a regime change in Japanese inflation dynamics and current monetary settings are clearly no longer appropriate. Japan is the only major economy where real bond yields today are lower than before the pandemic. The longer the BoJ waits to start its policy adjustment, the faster it may need to move in the future. Given the number of false starts since 2000, investors are understandably reluctant to price in a meaningful policy tightening cycle. However, the current inflation regime is very different from anything we have seen in the last 25-30 years.

Thank you for your investment in the BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund. As always, we appreciate that you have chosen us to manage your assets and we remain focused on achieving the Fund’s investment goals.

Sincerely,

 

LOGO

David F. Hoffman, CFA

Portfolio Manager

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC

 

LOGO

John (“Jack”) P. McIntyre, CFA

Portfolio Manager

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC

 

LOGO

Anujeet Sareen, CFA

Portfolio Manager

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC

 

LOGO

Brian L. Kloss, JD, CPA

Portfolio Manager

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC

 

 

6

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

LOGO

Tracy Chen, CFA, CAIA

Portfolio Manager

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC

January 16, 2024

RISKS: Foreign securities involve special risks such as currency fluctuations and social, political, and economic uncertainties, which could increase volatility. These risks are magnified in emerging markets. Emerging market countries tend to have economic, political, and legal systems that are less developed and are less stable than those of more developed countries. Sovereign government and supranational debt involve many of the risks of foreign and emerging markets investments as well as the risk of debt moratorium, repudiation or renegotiation and the Fund may be unable to enforce its rights against the issuers. Fixed income securities involve interest rate, credit, inflation, and reinvestment risks. The Fund’s share price may decline as interest rates rise. Below investment grade debt securities (commonly known as “high yield debt” or “junk bonds”) involve greater volatility than higher-rated securities. To the extent that the Fund invests in asset- and mortgage-backed securities, its exposure to prepayment and extension risks may be greater than investment in other fixed income securities. The Fund may engage in derivative transactions, which involve special risks and costs and may increase losses and have a potentially large impact on Fund performance. As a non-diversified fund, the Fund is permitted to invest a larger percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund, which may magnify the Fund’s losses from events affecting a particular issuer. The market values of securities or other assets will fluctuate, sometimes sharply and unpredictably, due to changes in general market conditions, overall economic trends or events, governmental actions or intervention, actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve or foreign central banks, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political developments, armed conflicts, economic sanctions and countermeasures in response to sanctions, major cybersecurity events, investor sentiment, the global and domestic effects of a pandemic, and other factors that may or may not be related to the issuer of the security or other asset. Please see the Fund’s prospectus for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and the Fund’s investment strategies.

Portfolio holdings and breakdowns are as of December 31, 2023 and are subject to change and may not be representative of the portfolio managers’ current or future investments. Please refer to pages 14 through 18 for a list and percentage breakdown of the Fund’s holdings.

All investments are subject to risk including the possible loss of principal. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All index performance reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes. Please note that an investor cannot invest directly in an index.

The information provided is not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results or investment advice. Views expressed may differ from those of the firm as a whole.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

7


Fund overview (cont’d)

 

 

i

The FTSE World Government Bond Index (“WGBI”) (USD) (Unhedged) measures the performance of fixed-rate, local currency, investment grade sovereign bonds. The WGBI currently comprises sovereign debt from multiple countries, denominated in a variety of currencies. The WGBI provides a broad benchmark for the global sovereign fixed income market.

 

ii 

The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index measures the performance of the global investment-grade, fixed-rate bond markets. The Index includes government, government-related and corporate bonds, as well as asset-backed, mortgage-backed and commercial mortgage-backed securities from both developed and emerging markets issuers.

 

iii 

The Bloomberg Global High Yield Index (USD) (Hedged) provides a broad-based measure of the global high-yield fixed income markets, representing the union of the U.S. High-Yield, Pan-European High-Yield, U.S. Emerging Markets High-Yield, CMBS High-Yield and Pan European Emerging Markets High-Yield Indices.

 

iv 

The JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Global tracks total returns for U.S. dollar denominated debt instruments issued by emerging market sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities: Brady bonds, loans, Eurobonds and local market instruments.

 

 

8

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


Fund at a glance (unaudited)

 

Investment breakdown (%) as a percent of total investments

 

LOGO

 

The bar graph above represents the composition of the Fund’s investments as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 and does not include derivatives, such as futures contracts and forward foreign currency contracts. The Fund is actively managed. As a result, the composition of the Fund’s investments is subject to change at any time.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

9


Fund expenses (unaudited)

 

Example

As a shareholder of the Fund, you may incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including front-end and back-end sales charges (loads) on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees; service and/or distribution (12b-1) fees; and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.

This example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested on July 1, 2023 and held for the six months ended December 31, 2023.

Actual expenses

The table below titled “Based on actual total return” provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information provided in this table, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. To estimate the expenses you paid on your account, divide your ending account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 ending account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Period”.

Hypothetical example for comparison purposes

The table below titled “Based on hypothetical total return” provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5.00% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use the information provided in this table to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare the 5.00% hypothetical example relating to the Fund with the 5.00% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.

Please note that the expenses shown in the table below are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as front-end or back-end sales charges (loads). Therefore, the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transaction costs were included, your costs would have been higher.

 

Based on actual total return1           Based on hypothetical total return1  
    

Actual

Total Return

Without

Sales

Charge2

   

Beginning

Account

Value

   

Ending

Account

Value

   

Annualized

Expense

Ratio

   

Expenses

Paid

During

the

Period3

              

Hypothetical

Annualized

Total Return

   

Beginning

Account

Value

   

Ending

Account

Value

   

Annualized

Expense

Ratio

   

Expenses

Paid

During

the

Period3

 
Class A     3.54   $ 1,000.00     $ 1,035.40       1.00   $ 5.13       Class A     5.00   $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.16       1.00   $ 5.09  
Class C     3.30       1,000.00       1,033.00       1.64       8.40       Class C     5.00       1,000.00       1,016.94       1.64       8.34  
Class C1     3.37       1,000.00       1,033.70       1.45       7.43       Class C1     5.00       1,000.00       1,017.90       1.45       7.38  
Class FI     3.59       1,000.00       1,035.90       0.96       4.93       Class FI     5.00       1,000.00       1,020.37       0.96       4.89  
Class R     3.47       1,000.00       1,034.70       1.25       6.41       Class R     5.00       1,000.00       1,018.90       1.25       6.36  
Class I     3.66       1,000.00       1,036.60       0.68       3.49       Class I     5.00       1,000.00       1,021.78       0.68       3.47  
Class IS     3.85       1,000.00       1,038.50       0.55       2.83       Class IS     5.00       1,000.00       1,022.43       0.55       2.80  

 

 

10

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

1 

For the six months ended December 31, 2023.

 

2 

Assumes the reinvestment of all distributions, including returns of capital, if any, at net asset value and does not reflect the deduction of the applicable sales charge with respect to Class A shares or the applicable contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) with respect to Class C shares and Class C1 shares. Total return is not annualized, as it may not be representative of the total return for the year. Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3 

Expenses (net of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements) are equal to each class’ respective annualized expense ratio multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year (184), then divided by 365.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

11


Fund performance (unaudited)

 

Average annual total returns  
Without sales charges1   Class A     Class C     Class C12     Class FI     Class R     Class I     Class IS  
Twelve Months Ended 12/31/23     6.85     6.21     6.25 %3      6.83     6.57     7.23     7.42
Five Years Ended 12/31/23     0.65       -0.03       0.73       0.65       0.38       0.96       1.09  
Ten Years Ended 12/31/23     1.05       0.33       0.88       1.04       0.77       1.35       1.47  
With sales charges4   Class A     Class C     Class C12     Class FI     Class R     Class I     Class IS  
Twelve Months Ended 12/31/23     2.86     5.21     5.25 %3      6.83     6.57     7.23     7.42
Five Years Ended 12/31/23     -0.22       -0.03       0.73       0.65       0.38       0.96       1.09  
Ten Years Ended 12/31/23     0.61       0.33       0.88       1.04       0.77       1.35       1.47  

 

Cumulative total returns       
Without sales charges1        
Class A (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      10.97
Class C (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      3.31  
Class C1 (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      9.19  
Class FI (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      10.86  
Class R (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      7.95  
Class I (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      14.32  
Class IS (12/31/13 through 12/31/23)      15.68  

All figures represent past performance and are not a guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The returns shown do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower.

 

1

Assumes the reinvestment of all distributions, including returns of capital, if any, at net asset value and does not reflect the deduction of the applicable sales charge with respect to Class A shares or the applicable contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) with respect to Class C shares and Class C1 shares.

 

2

On August 1, 2012, Class C shares were reclassified as Class C1 shares.

 

3

Total return information is based on net asset values calculated for shareholder transactions. Certain adjustments were made to the net assets of the Fund at December 31, 2022 for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, adjusted total returns have been disclosed in the Financial Highlights and differ from those reported here.

 

4

Assumes the reinvestment of all distributions, including returns of capital, if any, at net asset value. In addition, Class A shares reflect the deduction of the maximum initial sales charge of 4.25% on purchases made prior to August 15, 2022. Purchases made on or after August 15, 2022 incur a maximum initial sales charge of 3.75%. Class C shares and Class C1 shares reflect the deduction of a 1.00% CDSC, which applies if shares are redeemed within one year from purchase payment.

 

 

12

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

Historical performance

Value of $1,000,000 invested in

Class IS Shares of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund vs. FTSE World Government Bond Index (USD) (Unhedged)† — December 2013 - December 2023

 

LOGO

All figures represent past performance and are not a guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The returns shown do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower.

 

Hypothetical illustration of $1,000,000 invested in Class IS shares of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund on December 31, 2013 assuming the reinvestment of all distributions, including returns of capital, if any, at net asset value through December 31, 2023. The hypothetical illustration also assumes a $1,000,000 investment in the FTSE World Government Bond Index (USD) (Unhedged). The FTSE World Government Bond Index (the “Index”) measures the performance of fixed-rate, local currency, investment grade sovereign bonds. The Index is unmanaged and is not subject to the same management and trading expenses as a mutual fund. Please note that an investor cannot invest directly in an index. The performance of the Fund’s other classes may be greater or less than Class IS shares’ performance indicated on this chart, depending on whether greater or lesser charges and fees were incurred by shareholders investing in the other classes.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

13


Schedule of investments

December 31, 2023

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

(Percentages shown based on Fund net assets)

 

Security   Rate    

Maturity

Date

   

Face

Amount†

    Value  
U.S. Government & Agency Obligations — 31.7%                                

U.S. Government Obligations — 31.7%

                               

U.S. Treasury Bonds

    2.250     2/15/52       89,000,000     $ 61,719,414  

U.S. Treasury Bonds

    3.000     8/15/52       109,210,000       89,338,900  

U.S. Treasury Bonds

    4.125     8/15/53       92,940,000       93,971,053  

U.S. Treasury Notes (3 mo. U.S. Treasury Money Market Yield + 0.125%)

    5.456     7/31/25       161,410,000       161,204,057  (a) 

U.S. Treasury Notes

    3.500     2/15/33       242,750,000       235,505,429  

Total U.S. Government & Agency Obligations (Cost — $664,219,248)

 

    641,738,853  
Sovereign Bonds — 31.4%                                

Brazil — 4.0%

                               

Brazil Notas do Tesouro Nacional Serie F, Notes

    10.000     1/1/27       162,110,000 BRL      33,537,224  

Brazil Notas do Tesouro Nacional Serie F, Notes

    10.000     1/1/29       82,165,000 BRL      16,873,502  

Brazil Notas do Tesouro Nacional Serie F, Notes

    10.000     1/1/31       84,695,000 BRL      17,247,447  

Brazil Notas do Tesouro Nacional Serie F, Notes

    10.000     1/1/33       64,890,000 BRL      13,128,850  

Total Brazil

                            80,787,023  

Colombia — 6.4%

                               

Colombian TES, Bonds

    7.000     3/26/31       141,500,000,000  COP      31,519,648  

Colombian TES, Bonds

    9.250     5/28/42       359,600,000,000  COP      84,257,417  

Colombian TES, Bonds

    7.250     10/26/50       68,890,000,000  COP      12,958,183  

Total Colombia

                            128,735,248  

Mexico — 10.4%

                               

Mexican Bonos, Bonds

    8.000     11/7/47       800,000,000 MXN      42,142,630  

Mexican Bonos, Bonds

    8.000     7/31/53       880,000,000 MXN      46,028,856  

Mexican Bonos, Senior Notes

    8.500     11/18/38       1,119,000,000 MXN      62,906,106  

Mexican Bonos, Senior Notes

    7.750     11/13/42       1,142,000,000 MXN      59,208,339  

Total Mexico

                            210,285,931  

New Zealand — 0.8%

                               

New Zealand Government Bond

    2.750     5/15/51       38,120,000 NZD      17,219,776  

South Africa — 4.7%

                               

Republic of South Africa Government Bond, Senior Notes

    6.500     2/28/41       1,074,000,000  ZAR      35,538,729  

Republic of South Africa Government Bond, Senior Notes

    8.750     2/28/48       1,488,000,000  ZAR      60,008,069  

Total South Africa

                            95,546,798  

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

14

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

(Percentages shown based on Fund net assets)

 

Security   Rate    

Maturity

Date

   

Face

Amount†

    Value  

United Kingdom — 5.1%

                               

United Kingdom Gilt, Bonds

    1.250     7/31/51       150,500,000  GBP    $ 102,171,228 (b) 

Total Sovereign Bonds (Cost — $653,908,551)

 

            634,746,004  
Mortgage-Backed Securities — 24.3%                                

FHLMC — 6.6%

                               

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FHLMC)

    5.000     8/1/52-11/1/52       32,511,567       32,218,693  

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FHLMC)

    4.500     9/1/52-10/1/52       51,949,751       50,393,754  

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FHLMC)

    5.500     12/1/52       49,950,760       50,271,236  

Total FHLMC

                            132,883,683  

FNMA — 5.7%

                               

Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)

    4.500     9/1/52       40,025,412       38,826,572  

Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)

    5.000     10/1/52-12/1/52     44,086,704       43,676,287  

Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)

    5.500     12/1/52       31,976,797       32,181,955  

Total FNMA

                            114,684,814  

GNMA — 12.0%

                               

Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) II

    5.500     2/20/53-9/20/53       174,763,327       176,104,381  

Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) II

    5.000     6/20/53       32,361,214       32,130,966  

Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) II

    6.000     11/20/53       34,872,394       35,474,685  

Total GNMA

                            243,710,032  

Total Mortgage-Backed Securities (Cost — $486,474,226)

 

    491,278,529  
Corporate Bonds & Notes — 7.1%                                
Consumer Discretionary — 4.0%                                

Automobiles — 4.0%

                               

General Motors Financial Co. Inc., Senior Notes

    5.400     4/6/26       41,190,000       41,464,612  

Toyota Motor Credit Corp., Senior Notes

    4.450     5/18/26       38,140,000       38,095,986  

Total Consumer Discretionary

                            79,560,598  
Energy — 1.0%                                

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels — 1.0%

                               

Petroleos Mexicanos, Senior Notes

    6.950     1/28/60       31,450,000       20,752,783  

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

15


Schedule of investments (cont’d)

December 31, 2023

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

(Percentages shown based on Fund net assets)

 

Security   Rate    

Maturity

Date

   

Face

Amount†

    Value  
Financials — 2.1%

 

                       

Banks — 2.1%

                               

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Senior Notes (SOFR + 0.740%)

    6.154     3/14/25       42,300,000     $ 42,410,054 (a)(c) 

Total Corporate Bonds & Notes (Cost — $141,006,754)

 

            142,723,435  

Total Investments before Short-Term Investments
(Cost — $1,945,608,779)

 

    1,910,486,821  
                   Shares         
Short-Term Investments — 2.0%                                

Western Asset Premier Institutional U.S. Treasury Reserves, Premium Shares
(Cost — $39,449,016)

    5.279             39,449,016       39,449,016 (d)(e) 

Total Investments — 96.5% (Cost — $1,985,057,795)

 

                    1,949,935,837  

Other Assets in Excess of Liabilities — 3.5%

                            71,302,092  

Total Net Assets — 100.0%

                          $ 2,021,237,929  

 

Face amount denominated in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

 

(a) 

Variable rate security. Interest rate disclosed is as of the most recent information available. Certain variable rate securities are not based on a published reference rate and spread but are determined by the issuer or agent and are based on current market conditions. These securities do not indicate a reference rate and spread in their description above.

 

(b) 

Security is exempt from registration under Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933. Regulation S applies to securities offerings that are made outside of the United States and do not involve direct selling efforts in the United States. This security has been deemed liquid pursuant to guidelines approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(c) 

Security is exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933. This security may be resold in transactions that are exempt from registration, normally to qualified institutional buyers. This security has been deemed liquid pursuant to guidelines approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(d) 

Rate shown is one-day yield as of the end of the reporting period.

 

(e) 

In this instance, as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, an “Affiliated Company” represents Fund ownership of at least 5% of the outstanding voting securities of an issuer, or a company which is under common ownership or control with the Fund. At December 31, 2023, the total market value of investments in Affiliated Companies was $39,449,016 and the cost was $39,449,016 (Note 8).

 

Abbreviation(s) used in this schedule:

BRL   — Brazilian Real
COP   — Colombian Peso
GBP   — British Pound
MXN   — Mexican Peso
NZD   — New Zealand Dollar
SOFR   — Secured Overnight Financing Rate
ZAR   — South African Rand

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

16

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

 

At December 31, 2023, the Fund had the following open futures contracts:

 

     

Number of

Contracts

    

Expiration

Date

    

Notional

Amount

    

Market

Value

    

Unrealized

Appreciation

 
Contracts to Buy:                                             
U.S. Treasury Ultra 10-Year Notes      2,040        3/24      $ 230,635,566      $ 240,751,885      $ 10,116,319  
United Kingdom Long Gilt Bonds      720        3/24        88,306,881        94,206,832        5,899,951  
Net unrealized appreciation on open futures contracts

 

   $ 16,016,270  

At December 31, 2023, the Fund had the following open forward foreign currency contracts:

 

Currency

Purchased

   

Currency

Sold

    Counterparty  

Settlement

Date

   

Unrealized

Appreciation

(Depreciation)

 
NOK     474,900,000     USD     44,318,522     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     1/11/24     $ 2,439,989  
USD     3,042,955     NOK     33,900,000     UBS Securities LLC     1/11/24       (294,828)  
NZD     60,990,000     USD     37,047,644     Barclays Bank PLC     1/12/24       1,508,877  
USD     9,917,502     NZD     16,590,000     Barclays Bank PLC     1/12/24       (570,327)  
MYR     286,300,000     USD     61,325,908     Goldman Sachs Group Inc.     1/17/24       1,063,772  
NOK     1,023,000,000     USD     95,150,399     Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.     1/18/24       5,592,229  
BRL     129,310,000     USD     25,890,479     HSBC Securities Inc.     1/19/24       694,476  
USD     25,263,261     BRL     129,310,000     HSBC Securities Inc.     1/19/24       (1,321,695)  
USD     101,113,437     MXN     1,845,300,000     Citibank N.A.     1/23/24       (7,084,842)  
MXN     259,900,000     USD     14,444,581     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     1/23/24       794,530  
MXN     323,700,000     USD     18,134,454     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     1/23/24       845,540  
MXN     464,800,000     USD     26,116,761     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     1/23/24       1,136,563  
MXN     36,500,000     USD     1,965,237     Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.     1/23/24       174,923  
CLP     16,950,000,000     USD     18,315,414     Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.     1/26/24       887,278  
CLP     32,940,000,000     USD     35,350,934     Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.     1/26/24       1,966,864  
COP     99,480,000,000     USD     23,660,927     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     1/30/24       1,833,451  
USD     50,154,455     COP     216,750,000,000     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     1/30/24       (5,393,458)  
EUR     204,790,000     USD     217,295,501     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     2/7/24       9,147,727  
USD     62,728,442     EUR     57,400,000     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     2/7/24       (740,679)  
CLP     7,940,000,000     USD     8,907,337     HSBC Securities Inc.     2/8/24       81,711  
CLP     23,600,000,000     USD     25,981,461     HSBC Securities Inc.     2/8/24       736,616  
USD     90,049,282     ZAR     1,671,900,000     HSBC Securities Inc.     2/15/24       (973,538)  
AUD     53,470,000     USD     35,304,637     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     3/6/24       1,207,072  
AUD     248,510,000     USD     165,797,174     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     3/6/24       3,896,576  
USD     4,106,185     GBP     3,250,000     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     3/8/24       (37,875)  
INR     4,845,800,000     USD     57,961,342     Barclays Bank PLC     3/11/24       126,255  

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

17


Schedule of investments (cont’d)

December 31, 2023

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

 

Currency

Purchased

   

Currency

Sold

    Counterparty  

Settlement

Date

   

Unrealized

Appreciation

(Depreciation)

 
JPY     61,301,000,000     USD     430,227,743     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     3/15/24     $ 9,728,774  
NOK     601,100,000     USD     57,482,476     JPMorgan Chase & Co.     3/19/24       1,786,518  
Net unrealized appreciation on open forward foreign currency contracts

 

  $ 29,232,499  

 

Abbreviation(s) used in this table:

AUD   — Australian Dollar
BRL   — Brazilian Real
CLP   — Chilean Peso
COP   — Colombian Peso
EUR   — Euro
GBP   — British Pound
INR   — Indian Rupee
JPY   — Japanese Yen
MXN   — Mexican Peso
MYR   — Malaysian Ringgit
NOK   — Norwegian Krone
NZD   — New Zealand Dollar
USD   — United States Dollar
ZAR   — South African Rand

 

Summary of Investments by Country* (unaudited)       
United States      62.2
Mexico      11.9  
Colombia      6.6  
United Kingdom      5.2  
South Africa      4.9  
Brazil      4.1  
Australia      2.2  
New Zealand      0.9  
Short-Term Investments      2.0  
       100.0

 

*

As a percentage of total investments. Please note that the Fund holdings are as of December 31, 2023 and are subject to change. For purposes of the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its net assets in fixed income securities of issuers located in developed market countries, a country will be considered developed if, at the time of purchase, it has a sovereign debt rating of A- or better from at least one nationally recognized statistical ratings organization or is included in the FTSE World Government Bond Index.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

18

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


Statement of assets and liabilities

December 31, 2023

 

Assets:         

Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (Cost — $1,945,608,779)

   $ 1,910,486,821  

Investments in affiliated securities, at value (Cost — $39,449,016)

     39,449,016  

Foreign currency, at value (Cost — $59)

     60  

Unrealized appreciation on forward foreign currency contracts

     45,649,741  

Interest receivable

     30,160,389  

Deposits with brokers for open futures contracts

     10,811,166  

Foreign currency collateral for open futures contracts, at value (Cost — $6,522,819)

     6,570,779  

Deposits with brokers for OTC derivatives

     3,840,000  

Receivable for Fund shares sold

     2,380,888  

Dividends receivable from affiliated investments

     233,261  

Prepaid expenses

     48,423  

Total Assets

     2,049,630,544  
Liabilities:         

Unrealized depreciation on forward foreign currency contracts

     16,417,242  

Payable for Fund shares repurchased

     6,462,685  

Deposits from brokers for OTC derivatives

     3,100,000  

Payable to brokers — net variation margin on open futures contracts

     861,206  

Investment management fee payable

     854,855  

Trustees’ fees payable

     33,195  

Service and/or distribution fees payable

     28,325  

Accrued expenses

     635,107  

Total Liabilities

     28,392,615  
Total Net Assets    $ 2,021,237,929  
Net Assets:         

Par value (Note 7)

   $ 2,158  

Paid-in capital in excess of par value

     2,602,827,776  

Total distributable earnings (loss)

     (581,592,005)  
Total Net Assets    $ 2,021,237,929  

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

19


Statement of assets and liabilities (cont’d)

December 31, 2023

 

Net Assets:         

Class A

     $104,154,266  

Class C

     $2,198,449  

Class C1

     $43,934  

Class FI

     $10,972,554  

Class R

     $6,406,892  

Class I

     $660,324,600  

Class IS

     $1,237,137,234  
Shares Outstanding:         

Class A

     11,126,085  

Class C

     242,428  

Class C1

     4,614  

Class FI

     1,188,425  

Class R

     692,525  

Class I

     70,602,692  

Class IS

     131,958,572  
Net Asset Value:         

Class A (and redemption price)

     $9.36  

Class C*

     $9.07  

Class C1*

     $9.52  

Class FI (and redemption price)

     $9.23  

Class R (and redemption price)

     $9.25  

Class I (and redemption price)

     $9.35  

Class IS (and redemption price)

     $9.38  
Maximum Public Offering Price Per Share:         

Class A (based on maximum initial sales charge of 3.75%)

     $9.72  

 

*

Redemption price per share is NAV of Class C and Class C1 shares reduced by a 1.00% CDSC if shares are redeemed within one year from purchase payment (Note 2).

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

20

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


Statement of operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2023

 

Investment Income:         

Interest

   $ 119,114,629  

Dividends from affiliated investments

     2,755,779  

Less: Foreign taxes withheld

     (410,996)  

Total Investment Income

     121,459,412  
Expenses:         

Investment management fee (Note 2)

     10,147,251  

Transfer agent fees (Notes 2 and 5)

     1,154,852  

Service and/or distribution fees (Notes 2 and 5)

     344,950  

Registration fees

     215,686  

Custody fees

     156,273  

Trustees’ fees

     141,239  

Fund accounting fees

     93,454  

Legal fees

     71,112  

Audit and tax fees

     57,168  

Shareholder reports

     36,957  

Commitment fees (Note 9)

     17,522  

Fees recaptured by investment manager (Note 2)

     16,846  

Insurance

     14,035  

Interest expense

     4,645  

Miscellaneous expenses

     32,412  

Total Expenses

     12,504,402  

Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements (Notes 2 and 5)

     (47,791)  

Net Expenses

     12,456,611  
Net Investment Income      109,002,801  
Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments, Futures Contracts, Forward Foreign Currency Contracts and Foreign Currency Transactions (Notes 1, 3 and 4):         

Net Realized Loss From:

        

Investment transactions in unaffiliated securities

     (188,074,750) † 

Futures contracts

     (21,834,827)  

Forward foreign currency contracts

     (101,653,995)  

Foreign currency transactions

     (588,243)  

Net Realized Loss

     (312,151,815)  

Change in Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) From:

        

Investments in unaffiliated securities

     311,591,558  

Futures contracts

     20,019,925  

Forward foreign currency contracts

     3,049,983  

Foreign currencies

     728,080  

Change in Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)

     335,389,546  
Net Gain on Investments, Futures Contracts, Forward Foreign Currency Contracts and Foreign Currency Transactions      23,237,731  
Increase in Net Assets From Operations    $ 132,240,532  

 

Net of foreign capital gains tax of $464.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

21


Statements of changes in net assets

 

 

For the Years Ended December 31,    2023      2022  
Operations:                  

Net investment income

   $ 109,002,801      $ 67,437,656  

Net realized loss

     (312,151,815)        (334,637,492)  

Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation)

     335,389,546        (136,283,902)  

Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets From Operations

     132,240,532        (403,483,738)  
Distributions to Shareholders From (Notes 1 and 6):                  

Total distributable earnings

     (1,080,553)        (128,000,392)  

Decrease in Net Assets From Distributions to Shareholders

     (1,080,553)        (128,000,392)  
Fund Share Transactions (Note 7):                  

Net proceeds from sale of shares

     825,771,338        645,954,602  

Reinvestment of distributions

     1,029,330        121,471,288  

Cost of shares repurchased

     (908,634,794)        (782,529,552)  

Decrease in Net Assets From Fund Share Transactions

     (81,834,126)        (15,103,662)  

Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets

     49,325,853        (546,587,792)  
Net Assets:                  

Beginning of year

     1,971,912,076        2,518,499,868  

End of year

   $ 2,021,237,929      $ 1,971,912,076  

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

22

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


Financial highlights

 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class A Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.76       $11.08       $11.96       $10.68       $9.94  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.44       0.26       0.20       0.27       0.32  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.16       (2.04)       (0.88)       1.03       0.55  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.60       (1.78)       (0.68)       1.30       0.87  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

          (0.54)       (0.20)             (0.11)  

Return of capital

                      (0.02)       (0.02)  

Total distributions

          (0.54)       (0.20)       (0.02)       (0.13)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.36       $8.76       $11.08       $11.96       $10.68  

Total return2

    6.85     (16.03)     (5.68)     12.17     8.82
Net assets, end of year (000s)     $104,154       $98,888       $130,976       $151,095       $160,399  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    1.00 %3      1.00     1.00 %3      1.01     1.01 %3 

Net expenses4,5

    1.00 3      1.00       1.00 3      1.00       1.00 3 

Net investment income

    4.99       2.66       1.72       2.51       3.16  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %6 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures, exclusive of sales charges, may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

Reflects recapture of fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed from prior fiscal years.

 

4

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class A shares did not exceed 1.00%. This expense limitation arrangement cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

5

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

6

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

23


Financial highlights (cont’d)

 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class C Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.54       $10.81       $11.67       $10.47       $9.77  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.37       0.18       0.12       0.19       0.25  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.16       (1.98)       (0.86)       1.01       0.52  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.53       (1.80)       (0.74)       1.20       0.77  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

          (0.47)       (0.12)             (0.06)  

Return of capital

                            (0.01)  

Total distributions

          (0.47)       (0.12)             (0.07)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.07       $8.54       $10.81       $11.67       $10.47  

Total return2

    6.21     (16.60)     (6.31)     11.46     7.94
Net assets, end of year (000s)     $2,198       $2,355       $6,198       $7,815       $10,447  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    1.66     1.67     1.69     1.69     1.73

Net expenses3

    1.66 4      1.66 4      1.69 4      1.69 4      1.73  

Net investment income

    4.32       1.85       1.03       1.82       2.45  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %5 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures, exclusive of CDSC, may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class C shares did not exceed 1.75%. This expense limitation arrangement cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

4

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

5

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

24

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class C1 Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.95       $11.32       $11.80       $10.56       $9.84  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.41       0.23       0.16       0.22       0.29  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.16       (2.09)       (0.60)       1.02       0.53  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.57       (1.86)       (0.44)       1.24       0.82  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

          (0.51)       (0.04)             (0.08)  

Return of capital

                            (0.02)  

Total distributions

          (0.51)       (0.04)             (0.10)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.52       $8.95       $11.32       $11.80       $10.56  

Total return2

    6.37     (16.38)     (3.70) %3      11.74     8.35
Net assets, end of year (000s)     $44       $58       $64       $1,061       $2,562  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    1.61     1.53     1.45     1.41     1.39

Net expenses4

    1.45 5      1.45 5      1.45 5      1.41 5      1.39  

Net investment income

    4.52       2.28       1.37       2.11       2.82  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %6 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures, exclusive of CDSC, may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

The total return includes a payment by an affiliate to reimburse for an error. Absent this payment, total return would have been (6.25)% for the year ended December 31, 2021.

 

4

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class C1 shares did not exceed 1.45%. This expense limitation arrangement cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

5

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

6

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

25


Financial highlights (cont’d)

 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class FI Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.64       $10.94       $11.81       $10.54       $9.82  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.44       0.25       0.20       0.27       0.32  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.15       (2.01)       (0.86)       1.01       0.53  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.59       (1.76)       (0.66)       1.28       0.85  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

          (0.54)       (0.21)             (0.11)  

Return of capital

                      (0.01)       (0.02)  

Total distributions

          (0.54)       (0.21)       (0.01)       (0.13)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.23       $8.64       $10.94       $11.81       $10.54  

Total return2

    6.83     (16.05)     (5.62)     12.23     8.74
Net assets, end of year (000s)     $10,973       $15,826       $22,278       $16,906       $18,227  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    0.97 %3      1.00     0.97     0.98     0.98

Net expenses4

    0.97 3,5      1.00 5      0.97 5      0.98 5      0.98  

Net investment income

    4.99       2.63       1.73       2.53       3.20  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %6 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

Reflects recapture of fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed from prior fiscal years.

 

4

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class FI shares did not exceed 1.00%. This expense limitation arrangement cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

5

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

6

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

26

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class R Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.68       $10.98       $11.86       $10.60       $9.88  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.42       0.23       0.17       0.24       0.30  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.15       (2.01)       (0.87)       1.02       0.53  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.57       (1.78)       (0.70)       1.26       0.83  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

          (0.52)       (0.18)             (0.09)  

Return of capital

                            (0.02)  

Total distributions

          (0.52)       (0.18)             (0.11)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.25       $8.68       $10.98       $11.86       $10.60  

Total return2

    6.57     (16.19)     (5.95)     11.89     8.47
Net assets, end of year (000s)     $6,407       $6,500       $8,083       $6,717       $9,658  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    1.26     1.26     1.30     1.31     1.30 %3 

Net expenses4,5

    1.25       1.25       1.25       1.25       1.25 3 

Net investment income

    4.73       2.44       1.44       2.26       2.91  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %6 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

Reflects recapture of fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed from prior fiscal years.

 

4

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class R shares did not exceed 1.25%. This expense limitation arrangement cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

5

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

6

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

27


Financial highlights (cont’d)

 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class I Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.72       $11.04       $11.92       $10.63       $9.89  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.47       0.29       0.24       0.30       0.36  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.16       (2.04)       (0.88)       1.02       0.54  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.63       (1.75)       (0.64)       1.32       0.90  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

          (0.57)       (0.24)             (0.13)  

Return of capital

                      (0.03)       (0.03)  

Total distributions

          (0.57)       (0.24)       (0.03)       (0.16)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.35       $8.72       $11.04       $11.92       $10.63  

Total return2

    7.23     (15.80)     (5.36)     12.52     9.14
Net assets, end of year (millions)     $660       $625       $772       $723       $851  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    0.67     0.67     0.66     0.68     0.68

Net expenses3

    0.66 4      0.67 4      0.65 4      0.68 4      0.68  

Net investment income

    5.33       3.00       2.05       2.83       3.48  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %5 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class I shares did not exceed 0.75%. This expense limitation arrangement cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

4

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

5

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

28

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

For a share of each class of beneficial interest outstanding throughout each year ended December 31:  
Class IS Shares1   2023     2022     2021     2020     2019  
Net asset value, beginning of year     $8.74       $11.06       $11.94       $10.64       $9.90  
Income (loss) from operations:          

Net investment income

    0.48       0.30       0.25       0.31       0.37  

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

    0.17       (2.03)       (0.88)       1.03       0.54  

Total income (loss) from operations

    0.65       (1.73)       (0.63)       1.34       0.91  
Less distributions from:          

Net investment income

    (0.01)       (0.59)       (0.25)             (0.14)  

Return of capital

                      (0.04)       (0.03)  

Total distributions

    (0.01)       (0.59)       (0.25)       (0.04)       (0.17)  
Net asset value, end of year     $9.38       $8.74       $11.06       $11.94       $10.64  

Total return2

    7.42     (15.67)     (5.26)     12.66     9.21
Net assets, end of year (millions)     $1,237       $1,223       $1,579       $1,411       $1,881  
Ratios to average net assets:          

Gross expenses

    0.54     0.56     0.56     0.58     0.58

Net expenses3

    0.54 4      0.56 4      0.55 4      0.58 4      0.58  

Net investment income

    5.44       3.11       2.15       2.93       3.58  
Portfolio turnover rate     88     90     51     99     103 %5 

 

1

Per share amounts have been calculated using the average shares method.

 

2

Performance figures may reflect compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. In the absence of compensating balance arrangements, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, the total return would have been lower. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

3

As a result of an expense limitation arrangement, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class IS shares did not exceed 0.65%. In addition, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses for Class IS shares did not exceed the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses for Class I shares. These expense limitation arrangements cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund.

 

4

Reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements.

 

5

Excludes securities delivered as a result of a redemption in-kind.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

29


Notes to financial statements

 

1. Organization and significant accounting policies

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund (the “Fund”) is a separate non-diversified investment series of Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust (the “Trust”). The Trust, a Maryland statutory trust, is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), as an open-end management investment company.

The Fund follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies (“ASC 946”). The following are significant accounting policies consistently followed by the Fund and are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), including, but not limited to, ASC 946. Estimates and assumptions are required to be made regarding assets, liabilities and changes in net assets resulting from operations when financial statements are prepared. Changes in the economic environment, financial markets and any other parameters used in determining these estimates could cause actual results to differ. Subsequent events have been evaluated through the date the financial statements were issued.

(a) Investment valuation. The valuations for fixed income securities (which may include, but are not limited to, corporate, government, municipal, mortgage-backed, collateralized mortgage obligations and asset-backed securities) and certain derivative instruments are typically the prices supplied by independent third party pricing services, which may use market prices or broker/dealer quotations or a variety of valuation techniques and methodologies. The independent third party pricing services typically use inputs that are observable such as issuer details, interest rates, yield curves, prepayment speeds, credit risks/spreads, default rates and quoted prices for similar securities. Investments in open-end funds are valued at the closing net asset value per share of each fund on the day of valuation. Futures contracts are valued daily at the settlement price established by the board of trade or exchange on which they are traded. Equity securities for which market quotations are available are valued at the last reported sales price or official closing price on the primary market or exchange on which they trade. When the Fund holds securities or other assets that are denominated in a foreign currency, the Fund will normally use the currency exchange rates as of 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). If independent third party pricing services are unable to supply prices for a portfolio investment, or if the prices supplied are deemed by the manager to be unreliable, the market price may be determined by the manager using quotations from one or more broker/dealers or at the transaction price if the security has recently been purchased and no value has yet been obtained from a pricing service or pricing broker. When reliable prices are not readily available, such as when the value of a security has been significantly affected by events after the close of the exchange or market on which the security is principally traded, but before the Fund calculates its net asset value, the Fund values these securities as determined in accordance with procedures approved by the Fund’s Board of Trustees.

Pursuant to policies adopted by the Board of Trustees, the Fund’s manager has been designated as the valuation designee and is responsible for the oversight of the daily valuation process. The Fund’s manager is assisted by the Global Fund Valuation Committee (the “Valuation Committee”). The Valuation Committee is responsible for making fair value determinations, evaluating the effectiveness of the Fund’s pricing policies, and reporting to the Fund’s manager and the Board of Trustees. When determining the reliability of third

 

 

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party pricing information for investments owned by the Fund, the Valuation Committee, among other things, conducts due diligence reviews of pricing vendors, monitors the daily change in prices and reviews transactions among market participants.

The Valuation Committee will consider pricing methodologies it deems relevant and appropriate when making fair value determinations. Examples of possible methodologies include, but are not limited to, multiple of earnings; discount from market of a similar freely traded security; discounted cash-flow analysis; book value or a multiple thereof; risk premium/yield analysis; yield to maturity; and/or fundamental investment analysis. The Valuation Committee will also consider factors it deems relevant and appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances. Examples of possible factors include, but are not limited to, the type of security; the issuer’s financial statements; the purchase price of the security; the discount from market value of unrestricted securities of the same class at the time of purchase; analysts’ research and observations from financial institutions; information regarding any transactions or offers with respect to the security; the existence of merger proposals or tender offers affecting the security; the price and extent of public trading in similar securities of the issuer or comparable companies; and the existence of a shelf registration for restricted securities.

For each portfolio security that has been fair valued pursuant to the policies adopted by the Board of Trustees, the fair value price is compared against the last available and next available market quotations. The Valuation Committee reviews the results of such back testing monthly and fair valuation occurrences are reported to the Board of Trustees quarterly.

The Fund uses valuation techniques to measure fair value that are consistent with the market approach and/or income approach, depending on the type of security and the particular circumstance. The market approach uses prices and other relevant information generated by market transactions involving identical or comparable securities. The income approach uses valuation techniques to discount estimated future cash flows to present value.

GAAP establishes a disclosure hierarchy that categorizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to value assets and liabilities at measurement date. These inputs are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

 

Level 1 — unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical investments

 

 

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar investments, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.)

 

 

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) The inputs or methodologies used to value securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.

 

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Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities carried at fair value:

 

ASSETS  
Description    Quoted Prices
(Level 1)
     Other Significant
Observable Inputs
(Level 2)
    

Significant
Unobservable
Inputs

(Level 3)

     Total  
Long-Term Investments†:                                    

U.S. Government & Agency Obligations

          $ 641,738,853             $ 641,738,853  

Sovereign Bonds

            634,746,004               634,746,004  

Mortgage-Backed Securities

            491,278,529               491,278,529  

Corporate Bonds & Notes

            142,723,435               142,723,435  
Total Long-Term Investments             1,910,486,821               1,910,486,821  
Short-Term Investments†    $ 39,449,016                      39,449,016  
Total Investments    $ 39,449,016      $ 1,910,486,821             $ 1,949,935,837  
Other Financial Instruments:                                    

Futures Contracts††

   $ 16,016,270                    $ 16,016,270  

Forward Foreign Currency Contracts††

          $ 45,649,741               45,649,741  
Total Other Financial Instruments    $ 16,016,270      $ 45,649,741             $ 61,666,011  
Total    $ 55,465,286      $ 1,956,136,562             $ 2,011,601,848  
LIABILITIES  
Description    Quoted Prices
(Level 1)
     Other Significant
Observable Inputs
(Level 2)
    

Significant
Unobservable
Inputs

(Level 3)

     Total  
Other Financial Instruments:                                    
Forward Foreign Currency Contracts††           $ 16,417,242             $ 16,417,242  

 

See Schedule of Investments for additional detailed categorizations.

 

††

Reflects the unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of the instruments.

(b) Futures contracts. The Fund uses futures contracts generally to gain exposure to, or hedge against, changes in interest rates or gain exposure to, or hedge against, changes in certain asset classes. A futures contract represents a commitment for the future purchase or sale of an asset at a specified price on a specified date.

Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to deposit cash or securities with a broker in an amount equal to a certain percentage of the contract amount. This is known as the ‘‘initial margin’’ and subsequent payments (‘‘variation margin’’) are made or received by the Fund each day, depending on the daily fluctuation in the value of the contract. For certain futures, including foreign denominated futures, variation margin is not settled daily, but is recorded as a net variation margin payable or receivable. The daily changes in contract value are recorded as unrealized appreciation or depreciation in the Statement of Operations and the Fund recognizes a realized gain or loss when the contract is closed.

 

 

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Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, risk of loss in excess of the amounts reflected in the financial statements. In addition, there is the risk that the Fund may not be able to enter into a closing transaction because of an illiquid secondary market.

(c) Forward foreign currency contracts. The Fund enters into a forward foreign currency contract to hedge exposure of bond positions or in an attempt to increase the Fund’s return. A forward foreign currency contract is an agreement between two parties to buy and sell a currency at a set price with delivery and settlement at a future date. The contract is marked-to-market daily and the change in value is recorded by the Fund as an unrealized gain or loss. When a forward foreign currency contract is closed, through either delivery or offset by entering into another forward foreign currency contract, the Fund recognizes a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value of the contract at the time it was opened and the value of the contract at the time it is closed.

Non-deliverable forward foreign currency exchange contracts are settled with the counterparty in cash without the delivery of foreign currency.

Forward foreign currency contracts involve elements of market risk in excess of the amounts reflected on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The Fund bears the risk of an unfavorable change in the foreign exchange rate underlying the forward foreign currency contract. Risks may also arise upon entering into these contracts from the potential inability of the counterparties to meet the terms of their contracts.

(d) Foreign currency translation. Investment securities and other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollar amounts based upon prevailing exchange rates on the date of valuation. Purchases and sales of investment securities and income and expense items denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollar amounts based upon prevailing exchange rates on the respective dates of such transactions.

The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates on investments from the fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included with the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments.

Net realized foreign exchange gains or losses arise from sales of foreign currencies, including gains and losses on forward foreign currency contracts, currency gains or losses realized between the trade and settlement dates on securities transactions, and the difference between the amounts of dividends, interest, and foreign withholding taxes recorded on the Fund’s books and the U.S. dollar equivalent of the amounts actually received or paid. Net unrealized foreign exchange gains and losses arise from changes in the values of assets and liabilities, other than investments in securities, on the date of valuation, resulting from changes in exchange rates.

Foreign security and currency transactions may involve certain considerations and risks not typically associated with those of U.S. dollar denominated transactions as a result of, among other factors, the possibility of lower levels of governmental supervision and regulation of foreign securities markets and the possibility of political or economic instability.

 

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33


Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

(e) Credit and market risk. The Fund invests in high-yield and emerging market instruments that are subject to certain credit and market risks. The yields of high-yield and emerging market debt obligations reflect, among other things, perceived credit and market risks. The Fund’s investments in securities rated below investment grade typically involve risks not associated with higher rated securities including, among others, greater risk related to timely and ultimate payment of interest and principal, greater market price volatility and less liquid secondary market trading. The consequences of political, social, economic or diplomatic changes may have disruptive effects on the market prices of investments held by the Fund. The Fund’s investments in non-U.S. dollar denominated securities may also result in foreign currency losses caused by devaluations and exchange rate fluctuations.

Investments in securities that are collateralized by real estate mortgages are subject to certain credit and liquidity risks. When market conditions result in an increase in default rates of the underlying mortgages and the foreclosure values of underlying real estate properties are materially below the outstanding amount of these underlying mortgages, collection of the full amount of accrued interest and principal on these investments may be doubtful. Such market conditions may significantly impair the value and liquidity of these investments and may result in a lack of correlation between their credit ratings and values.

(f) Foreign investment risks. The Fund’s investments in foreign securities may involve risks not present in domestic investments. Since securities may be denominated in foreign currencies, may require settlement in foreign currencies or may pay interest or dividends in foreign currencies, changes in the relationship of these foreign currencies to the U.S. dollar can significantly affect the value of the investments and earnings of the Fund. Foreign investments may also subject the Fund to foreign government exchange restrictions, expropriation, taxation or other political, social or economic developments, all of which affect the market and/or credit risk of the investments.

(g) Counterparty risk and credit-risk-related contingent features of derivative instruments. The Fund may invest in certain securities or engage in other transactions where the Fund is exposed to counterparty credit risk in addition to broader market risks. The Fund may invest in securities of issuers, which may also be considered counterparties as trading partners in other transactions. This may increase the risk of loss in the event of default or bankruptcy by the counterparty or if the counterparty otherwise fails to meet its contractual obligations. The Fund’s subadviser attempts to mitigate counterparty risk by (i) periodically assessing the creditworthiness of its trading partners, (ii) monitoring and/or limiting the amount of its net exposure to each individual counterparty based on its assessment and (iii) requiring collateral from the counterparty for certain transactions. Market events and changes in overall economic conditions may impact the assessment of such counterparty risk by the subadviser. In addition, declines in the values of underlying collateral received may expose the Fund to increased risk of loss.

With exchange traded and centrally cleared derivatives, there is less counterparty risk to the Fund since the exchange or clearinghouse, as counterparty to such instruments, guarantees against a possible default. The clearinghouse stands between the buyer and the seller of the contract; therefore, the credit risk is limited to failure of the clearinghouse. While offset rights may exist under applicable law, the Fund does not have a contractual right of offset against a clearing broker or clearinghouse in the event of a default of the clearing broker or clearinghouse.

 

 

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    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

The Fund has entered into master agreements, such as an International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. Master Agreement (“ISDA Master Agreement”) or similar agreement, with certain of its derivative counterparties that govern over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives and provide for general obligations, representations, agreements, collateral posting terms, netting provisions in the event of default or termination and credit related contingent features. The credit related contingent features include, but are not limited to, a percentage decrease in the Fund’s net assets or net asset value per share over a specified period of time. If these credit related contingent features were triggered, the derivatives counterparty could terminate the positions and demand payment or require additional collateral.

Under an ISDA Master Agreement, the Fund may, under certain circumstances, offset with the counterparty certain derivative financial instruments’ payables and/or receivables with collateral held and/or posted and create one single net payment. However, absent an event of default by the counterparty or a termination of the agreement, the terms of the ISDA Master Agreements do not result in an offset of reported amounts of financial assets and financial liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities across transactions between the Fund and the applicable counterparty. The enforceability of the right to offset may vary by jurisdiction.

Collateral requirements differ by type of derivative. Collateral or margin requirements are set by the broker or exchange clearinghouse for exchange traded derivatives while collateral terms are contract specific for OTC traded derivatives. Cash collateral that has been pledged to cover obligations of the Fund under derivative contracts, if any, will be reported separately in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Securities pledged as collateral, if any, for the same purpose are noted in the Schedule of Investments.

As of December 31, 2023, the Fund held forward foreign currency contracts with credit related contingent features which had a liability position of $16,417,242. If a contingent feature in the master agreements would have been triggered, the Fund would have been required to pay this amount to its derivatives counterparties. As of December 31, 2023, the Fund had posted with its counterparties cash and/or securities as collateral to cover the net liability of these derivatives amounting to $3,840,000 which could be used to reduce the required payment.

At December 31, 2023, the Fund held cash collateral from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. in the amounts of $560,000 and $2,540,000, respectively. These amounts could be used to reduce the Fund’s exposure to the counterparty in the event of default.

(h) Security transactions and investment income. Security transactions are accounted for on a trade date basis. Interest income (including interest income from payment-in-kind securities) is recorded on the accrual basis. Amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts on debt securities are recorded to interest income over the lives of the respective securities, except for premiums on certain callable debt securities, which are amortized to the earliest call date. Paydown gains and losses on mortgage- and asset-backed securities are recorded as adjustments to interest income. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date for dividends received in cash and/or securities. Foreign dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date or as soon as practicable after the Fund determines the existence of a dividend declaration after exercising reasonable due diligence. The cost of

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

35


Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

investments sold is determined by use of the specific identification method. To the extent any issuer defaults or a credit event occurs that impacts the issuer, the Fund may halt any additional interest income accruals and consider the realizability of interest accrued up to the date of default or credit event.

(i) Distributions to shareholders. Distributions from net investment income of the Fund, if any, are declared and paid on a quarterly basis. Distributions of net realized gains, if any, are declared at least annually. Distributions to shareholders of the Fund are recorded on the ex-dividend date and are determined in accordance with income tax regulations, which may differ from GAAP.

(j) Share class accounting. Investment income, common expenses and realized/ unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated to the various classes of the Fund on the basis of daily net assets of each class. Fees relating to a specific class are charged directly to that share class.

(k) Compensating balance arrangements. The Fund has an arrangement with its custodian bank whereby a portion of the custodian’s fees is paid indirectly by credits earned on the Fund’s cash on deposit with the bank.

(l) Federal and other taxes. It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the federal income and excise tax requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”), as amended, applicable to regulated investment companies. Accordingly, the Fund intends to distribute its taxable income and net realized gains, if any, to shareholders in accordance with timing requirements imposed by the Code. Therefore, no federal or state income tax provision is required in the Fund’s financial statements.

Management has analyzed the Fund’s tax positions taken on income tax returns for all open tax years and has concluded that as of December 31, 2023, no provision for income tax is required in the Fund’s financial statements. The Fund’s federal and state income and federal excise tax returns for tax years for which the applicable statutes of limitations have not expired are subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service and state departments of revenue.

Under the applicable foreign tax laws, a withholding tax may be imposed on interest, dividends and capital gains at various rates. Realized gains upon disposition of securities issued in or by certain foreign countries are subject to capital gains tax imposed by those countries.

(m) Reclassification. GAAP requires that certain components of net assets be reclassified to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset value per share. During the current year, the following reclassifications have been made:

 

      Total Distributable
Earnings (Loss)
         Paid-in
Capital
(a)    $18,955,202         $(18,955,202)

 

(a) 

Reclassifications are due to a tax net operating loss and a taxable overdistribution.

 

 

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2. Investment management agreement and other transactions with affiliates

Franklin Templeton Fund Adviser, LLC (“FTFA”) (formerly known as Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC (“LMPFA”) prior to November 30, 2023) is the Fund’s investment manager and Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC (“Brandywine Global”) is the Fund’s subadviser. FTFA and Brandywine Global are indirect, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Franklin Resources, Inc. (“Franklin Resources”).

FTFA provides administrative and certain oversight services to the Fund. The Fund pays an investment management fee, calculated daily and paid monthly, at an annual rate of 0.50% of the Fund’s average daily net assets. FTFA delegates to the subadviser the day-to-day portfolio management of the Fund. For its services, FTFA pays Brandywine Global a fee monthly, at an annual rate equal to 90% of the net management fee it receives from the Fund.

As a result of expense limitation arrangements between the Fund and FTFA, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses, other than interest, brokerage commissions, dividend expense on short sales, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, to average net assets of Class A, Class C, Class C1, Class FI, Class R, Class I and Class IS shares did not exceed 1.00%, 1.75%, 1.45%, 1.00%, 1.25%, 0.75% and 0.65%, respectively. In addition, the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses for Class IS shares did not exceed the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses for Class I shares. These expense limitation arrangements cannot be terminated prior to December 31, 2025 without the Board of Trustees’ consent. In addition, the manager has agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee to an extent sufficient to offset the net management fee payable in connection with any investment in an affiliated money market fund (the “affiliated money market fund waiver”). The affiliated money market fund waiver is not subject to the recapture provision discussed below.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed amounted to $47,791, which included an affiliated money market fund waiver of $47,385.

FTFA is permitted to recapture amounts waived and/or reimbursed to a class within three years after the fiscal year in which FTFA earned the fee or incurred the expense if the class’ total annual fund operating expenses have fallen to a level below the expense limitation (“expense cap”) in effect at the time the fees were earned or the expenses incurred. In no case will FTFA recapture any amount that would result, on any particular business day of the Fund, in the class’ total annual fund operating expenses exceeding the expense cap or any other lower limit then in effect.

Pursuant to these arrangements, at December 31, 2023, the Fund had remaining fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements subject to recapture by FTFA and respective dates of expiration as follows:

 

      Class A      Class C1      Class R  
Expires December 31, 2024           $ 7      $ 3,421  
Expires December 31, 2025    $ 1,491        50        848  
Expires December 31, 2026             89        317  
Total fee waivers/expense reimbursements subject to recapture    $ 1,491      $ 146      $ 4,586  

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

37


Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

For the year ended December 31, 2023, fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements recaptured by FTFA were as follows:

 

      Class A      Class FI  
FTFA recaptured    $ 16,299      $ 547  

Franklin Distributors, LLC (“Franklin Distributors”) serves as the Fund’s sole and exclusive distributor. Franklin Distributors is an indirect, wholly-owned broker-dealer subsidiary of Franklin Resources. Franklin Templeton Investor Services, LLC (“Investor Services”) serves as the Fund’s shareholder servicing agent and acts as the Fund’s transfer agent and dividend-paying agent. Investor Services is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources. Each class of shares of the Fund pays transfer agent fees to Investor Services for its performance of shareholder servicing obligations. Investor Services charges account-based fees based on the number of individual shareholder accounts, as well as a fixed percentage fee based on the total account-based fees charged. In addition, each class reimburses Investor Services for out of pocket expenses incurred. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Fund incurred transfer agent fees as reported on the Statement of Operations, of which $36,949 was earned by Investor Services.

There is a maximum initial sales charge of 3.75% for Class A shares. There is a contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) of 1.00% on Class C and Class C1 shares, which applies if redemption occurs within 12 months from purchase payment. In certain cases, Class A shares have a 1.00% CDSC, which applies if redemption occurs within 18 months from purchase payment. This CDSC only applies to those purchases of Class A shares, which, when combined with current holdings of other shares of funds sold by Franklin Distributors, equal or exceed $500,000 in the aggregate. These purchases do not incur an initial sales charge.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, sales charges retained by and CDSCs paid to Franklin Distributors and its affiliates, if any, were as follows:

 

      Class A      Class C  
Sales charges    $ 4,879         
CDSCs      13      $ 1,904  

Under a Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Plan”), Trustees may have elected to defer receipt of all or a specified portion of their compensation. A participating Trustee selected one or more funds managed by FTFA or an affiliate of FTFA in which his or her deferred trustee’s fees were deemed to be invested. Deferred amounts remain in the Fund until distributed in accordance with the Plan. In May 2015, the Board of Trustees approved an amendment to the Plan so that effective January 1, 2016, no compensation earned after that date may be deferred under the Plan.

All officers and one Trustee of the Trust are employees of Franklin Resources or its affiliates and do not receive compensation from the Trust.

 

 

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3. Investments

During the year ended December 31, 2023, the aggregate cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of investments (excluding short-term investments) and U.S. Government & Agency Obligations were as follows:

 

        Investments        U.S. Government &
Agency Obligations
 
Purchases      $ 524,895,248        $ 1,186,901,284  
Sales        1,106,856,356          704,710,901  

At December 31, 2023, the aggregate cost of investments and the aggregate gross unrealized appreciation and depreciation of investments for federal income tax purposes were as follows:

 

      Cost      Gross
Unrealized
Appreciation
     Gross
Unrealized
Depreciation
     Net
Unrealized
Appreciation
(Depreciation)
 
Securities    $ 1,988,228,987      $ 72,849,303      $ (111,142,453)      $ (38,293,150)  
Futures contracts             16,016,270               16,016,270  
Forward foreign currency contracts             45,649,741        (16,417,242)        29,232,499  

4. Derivative instruments and hedging activities

Below is a table, grouped by derivative type, that provides information about the fair value and the location of derivatives within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities at December 31, 2023.

 

ASSET DERIVATIVES1  
     

Interest

Rate Risk

    

Foreign

Exchange Risk

     Total  
Futures contracts2    $ 16,016,270             $ 16,016,270  
Forward foreign currency contracts           $ 45,649,741        45,649,741  
Total    $ 16,016,270      $ 45,649,741      $ 61,666,011  
LIABILITY DERIVATIVES1  
                      Foreign
Exchange Risk
 
Forward foreign currency contracts                      $ 16,417,242  

 

1

Generally, the balance sheet location for asset derivatives is receivables/net unrealized appreciation and for liability derivatives is payables/net unrealized depreciation.

 

2

Includes cumulative unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Investments. Only net variation margin is reported within the receivables and/or payables on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

39


Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

The following tables provide information about the effect of derivatives and hedging activities on the Fund’s Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2023. The first table provides additional detail about the amounts and sources of gains (losses) realized on derivatives during the period. The second table provides additional information about the change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) resulting from the Fund’s derivatives and hedging activities during the period.

 

AMOUNT OF NET REALIZED GAIN (LOSS) ON DERIVATIVES RECOGNIZED  
      Interest
Rate Risk
     Foreign
Exchange Risk
     Total  
Futures contracts    $ (21,834,827)             $ (21,834,827)  
Forward foreign currency contracts           $ (101,653,995)        (101,653,995)  
Total    $ (21,834,827)      $ (101,653,995)      $ (123,488,822)  
CHANGE IN NET UNREALIZED APPRECIATION (DEPRECIATION) ON DERIVATIVES RECOGNIZED  
      Interest
Rate Risk
     Foreign
Exchange Risk
     Total  
Futures contracts    $ 20,019,925             $ 20,019,925  
Forward foreign currency contracts           $ 3,049,983        3,049,983  
Total    $ 20,019,925      $ 3,049,983      $ 23,069,908  

During the year ended December 31, 2023, the volume of derivative activity for the Fund was as follows:

 

        Average Market
Value
 
Futures contracts (to buy)      $ 243,284,765  
Forward foreign currency contracts (to buy)        1,694,574,028  
Forward foreign currency contracts (to sell)        929,861,425  

The following table presents the Fund’s OTC derivative assets and liabilities by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under an ISDA Master Agreement and net of the related collateral pledged (received) by the Fund as of December 31, 2023.

 

Counterparty    Gross Assets
Subject to
Master
Agreements1
     Gross
Liabilities
Subject to
Master
Agreements1
    

Net Assets

(Liabilities)
Subject to
Master
Agreements

     Collateral
Pledged
(Received)2,3
     Net
Amount4,5
 
Barclays Bank PLC    $ 1,635,132      $ (570,327)      $ 1,064,805             $ 1,064,805  
Citibank N.A.             (7,084,842)        (7,084,842)               (7,084,842)  
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.      1,063,772               1,063,772      $ (560,000)        503,772  
HSBC Securities Inc.      1,512,803        (2,295,233)        (782,430)               (782,430)  
JPMorgan Chase & Co.      32,816,740        (6,172,012)        26,644,728        3,840,000        30,484,728  
Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.      8,621,294               8,621,294        (2,540,000)        6,081,294  
UBS Securities LLC             (294,828)        (294,828)               (294,828)  
Total    $ 45,649,741      $ (16,417,242)      $ 29,232,499      $ 740,000      $ 29,972,499  

 

 

40

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

1

Absent an event of default or early termination, derivative assets and liabilities are presented gross and not offset in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

 

2

Gross amounts are not offset in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

 

3

In some instances, the actual collateral received and/or pledged may be more than the amount shown here due to overcollateralization.

 

4

Net amount may also include forward foreign currency exchange contracts that are not required to be collateralized.

 

5

Represents the net amount receivable (payable) from (to) the counterparty in the event of default.

5. Class specific expenses, waivers and/or expense reimbursements

The Fund has adopted a Rule 12b-1 shareholder services and distribution plan and under that plan the Fund pays service and/or distribution fees with respect to its Class A, Class C, Class C1, Class FI and Class R shares calculated at the annual rate of 0.25%, 1.00%, 0.70%, 0.25% and 0.50% of the average daily net assets of each class, respectively. Service and/or distribution fees are accrued daily and paid monthly.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, class specific expenses were as follows:

 

        Service and/or
Distribution Fees
       Transfer Agent
Fees
 
Class A      $ 250,782        $ 192,868  
Class C        22,760          2,748  
Class C1        387          206  
Class FI        39,179          27,792  
Class R        31,842          13,634  
Class I                 871,963  
Class IS                 45,641  
Total      $ 344,950        $ 1,154,852  

For the year ended December 31, 2023, waivers and/or expense reimbursements by class were as follows:

 

        Waivers/Expense
Reimbursements
 
Class A      $ 2,336  
Class C        53  
Class C1        90  
Class FI        365  
Class R        465  
Class I        16,441  
Class IS        28,041  
Total      $ 47,791  

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

41


Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

6. Distributions to shareholders by class

 

        Year Ended
December 31, 2023
       Year Ended
December 31, 2022
 
Net Investment Income:                      
Class A               $ 5,919,454  
Class C                 158,241  
Class C1                 3,186  
Class FI                 968,501  
Class R                 378,136  
Class I                 40,613,459  
Class IS      $ 1,080,553          79,959,415  
Total      $ 1,080,553        $ 128,000,392  

7. Shares of beneficial interest

At December 31, 2023, the Trust had an unlimited number of shares of beneficial interest authorized with a par value of $0.00001 per share. The Fund has the ability to issue multiple classes of shares. Each class of shares represents an identical interest and has the same rights, except that each class bears certain direct expenses, including those specifically related to the distribution of its shares.

Transactions in shares of each class were as follows:

 

     Year Ended
December 31, 2023
     Year Ended
December 31, 2022
 
      Shares      Amount      Shares      Amount  
Class A                                    
Shares sold      4,464,049      $ 39,666,231        3,200,290      $ 30,967,894  
Shares issued on reinvestment                    601,447        5,329,139  
Shares repurchased      (4,624,381)        (40,161,803)        (4,337,587)        (41,869,584)  
Net decrease      (160,332)      $ (495,572)        (535,850)      $ (5,572,551)  
Class C                                    
Shares sold      114,654      $ 984,800        33,986      $ 321,306  
Shares issued on reinvestment                    17,594        150,857  
Shares repurchased      (147,886)        (1,268,470)        (349,236)        (3,205,122)  
Net decrease      (33,232)      $ (283,670)        (297,656)      $ (2,732,959)  
Class C1                                    
Shares sold      924      $ 8,218        763      $ 7,536  
Shares issued on reinvestment                    354        3,186  
Shares repurchased      (2,800)        (23,754)        (285)        (2,756)  
Net increase (decrease)      (1,876)      $ (15,536)        832      $ 7,966  
Class FI                                    
Shares sold      725,675      $ 6,450,172        553,169      $ 5,254,816  
Shares issued on reinvestment                    108,250        947,506  
Shares repurchased      (1,368,873)        (11,896,213)        (866,980)        (8,072,723)  
Net decrease      (643,198)      $ (5,446,041)        (205,561)      $ (1,870,401)  

 

 

42

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


 

     Year Ended
December 31, 2023
     Year Ended
December 31, 2022
 
      Shares      Amount      Shares      Amount  
Class R                                    
Shares sold      185,759      $ 1,634,494        212,153      $ 2,073,863  
Shares issued on reinvestment                    43,153        377,645  
Shares repurchased      (242,040)        (2,134,564)        (242,416)        (2,310,147)  
Net increase (decrease)      (56,281)      $ (500,070)        12,890      $ 141,361  
Class I                                    
Shares sold      36,422,213      $ 324,520,943        28,232,738      $ 275,004,016  
Shares issued on reinvestment                    4,141,221        36,666,274  
Shares repurchased      (37,460,020)        (324,140,815)        (30,648,176)        (289,914,829)  
Net increase (decrease)      (1,037,807)      $ 380,128        1,725,783      $ 21,755,461  
Class IS                                    
Shares sold      51,461,690      $ 452,506,480        33,859,911      $ 332,325,171  
Shares issued on reinvestment      111,159        1,029,330        8,788,684        77,996,681  
Shares repurchased      (59,532,235)        (529,009,175)        (45,551,298)        (437,154,391)  
Net decrease      (7,959,386)      $ (75,473,365)        (2,902,703)      $ (26,832,539)  

8. Transactions with affiliated company

As defined by the 1940 Act, an affiliated company is one in which the Fund owns 5% or more of the outstanding voting securities, or a company which is under common ownership or control with the Fund. The following company was considered an affiliated company for all or some portion of the year ended December 31, 2023. The following transactions were effected in such company for the year ended December 31, 2023.

 

     Affiliate
Value at
December 31,

2022
     Purchased      Sold  
      Cost      Shares      Proceeds      Shares  
Western Asset Premier Institutional U.S. Treasury Reserves, Premium Shares    $ 26,323,460      $ 1,298,374,881        1,298,374,881      $ 1,285,249,325        1,285,249,325  

 

(cont’d)    Realized
Gain (Loss)
     Dividend
Income
    

Net Increase

(Decrease) in
Unrealized
Appreciation
(Depreciation)

    

Affiliate
Value at
December 31,

2023

 
Western Asset Premier Institutional U.S. Treasury Reserves, Premium Shares           $ 2,755,779             $ 39,449,016  

9. Redemption facility

The Fund, together with other U.S. registered and foreign investment funds (collectively, the “Borrowers”) managed by Franklin Resources or its affiliates, is a borrower in a joint

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

43


Notes to financial statements (cont’d)

 

syndicated senior unsecured credit facility totaling $2.675 billion (the “Global Credit Facility”). The Global Credit Facility provides a source of funds to the Borrowers for temporary and emergency purposes, including the ability to meet future unanticipated or unusually large redemption requests. Unless renewed, the Global Credit Facility will terminate on January 31, 2025.

Under the terms of the Global Credit Facility, the Fund shall, in addition to interest charged on any borrowings made by the Fund and other costs incurred by the Fund, pay its share of fees and expenses incurred in connection with the implementation and maintenance of the Global Credit Facility, based upon its relative share of the aggregate net assets of all the Borrowers, including an annual commitment fee of 0.15% based upon the unused portion of the Global Credit Facility. These fees are reflected in the Statement of Operations. The Fund did not utilize the Global Credit Facility during the year ended December 31, 2023.

10. Income tax information and distributions to shareholders

The tax character of distributions paid during the fiscal years ended December 31, was as follows:

 

        2023        2022  
Distributions paid from:                      
Ordinary income      $ 1,080,553        $ 128,000,392  

As of December 31, 2023, the components of distributable earnings (loss) on a tax basis were as follows:

 

Deferred capital losses*    $ (514,516,394)  
Other book/tax temporary differences(a)      (74,685,260)  
Unrealized appreciation (depreciation)(b)      7,609,649  
Total distributable earnings (loss) — net    $ (581,592,005)  

 

*

These capital losses have been deferred in the current year as either short-term or long-term losses. The losses will be deemed to occur on the first day of the next taxable year in the same character as they were originally deferred and will be available to offset future taxable capital gains.

 

(a) 

Other book/tax temporary differences are attributable to the tax deferral of losses on straddles, the realization for tax purposes of unrealized gains (losses) on certain forwards and foreign currency contracts and book/tax differences in the timing of the deductibility of various expenses.

 

(b) 

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation (depreciation) is attributable to the tax deferral of losses on wash sales.

 

 

44

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report


Report of independent registered public accounting firm

 

To the Board of Trustees of Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust and Shareholders of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of investments, of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund (one of the funds constituting Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2023, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023, the statement of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2023, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period ended December 31, 2023 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2023, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2023 and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period ended December 31, 2023 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2023 by correspondence with the custodian and brokers. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Baltimore, Maryland

February 23, 2024

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Franklin Templeton Group of Funds since 1948.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund 2023 Annual Report    

 

45


Additional information (unaudited)

Information about Trustees and Officers

 

The business and affairs of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund (the “Fund”) are conducted by management under the supervision and subject to the direction of its Board of Trustees. The business address of each Trustee is c/o Jane Trust, Franklin Templeton, 280 Park Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, New York 10017.

Information pertaining to the Trustees and officers of the Fund is set forth below. The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request by calling the Fund at
877-6LM-FUND/656-3863.

 

Independent Trustees†    
Andrew L. Breech  
Year of birth   1952
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1991
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   President, Dealer Operating Control Service, Inc. (automotive retail management) (since 1985)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   None
Althea L. Duersten*  
Year of birth   1951
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee and Chair of the Board
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2014 (Chair of the Board since 2021)
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Retired (since 2011); formerly, Chief Investment Officer, North America, JPMorgan Chase (investment bank) and member of JPMorgan Executive Committee (2007 to 2011)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   Formerly, Non-Executive Director, Rokos Capital Management LLP (2019 to 2020)
Stephen R. Gross  
Year of birth   1947
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1986
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Chairman Emeritus (since 2011) and formerly, Chairman, HLB Gross Collins, P.C. (accounting and consulting firm) (1979 to 2011); Executive Director of Business Builders Team, LLC (since 2005); Principal, Gross Consulting Group, LLC (since 2011); CEO, Gross Capital Partners, LLC (since 2014); CEO, Trusted CFO Solutions, LLC (since 2011)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   None

 

 

46

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund


 

Independent Trustees† (cont’d)    
Susan M. Heilbron  
Year of birth   1945
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1991
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Retired; formerly, President, Lacey & Heilbron (communications consulting) (1990 to 2002); General Counsel and Executive Vice President, The Trump Organization (1986 to 1990); Senior Vice President, New York State Urban Development Corporation (1984 to 1986); Associate, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (1980 to 1984 and 1977 to 1979)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   None
Arnold L. Lehman  
Year of birth   1944
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1982
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Senior Advisor, Phillips (auction house) (since 2015); formerly, Fellow, Ford Foundation (2015 to 2016); Director of the Brooklyn Museum (1997 to 2015)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   Trustee of American Federation of Arts (since 2002)
Robin J. W. Masters  
Year of birth   1955
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2002
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Retired; formerly, Chief Investment Officer of ACE Limited (insurance) (1986 to 2000)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   Director of HSBC Corporate Money Funds Limited, HSBC Managed Portfolios Limited and HSBC Specialist Funds Limited (since 2020); formerly, Director of Cheyne Capital International Limited (investment advisory firm) (2005 to 2020)
Ken Miller  
Year of birth   1942
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1983
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Retired; formerly, President, Young Stuff Apparel Group, Inc. (apparel manufacturer), division of Li & Fung (1963 to 2012)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   None

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund    

 

47


Additional information (unaudited) (cont’d)

Information about Trustees and Officers

 

Independent Trustees† (cont’d)    
G. Peter O’Brien**  
Year of birth   1945
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1999
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Retired, Trustee Emeritus of Colgate University (since 2005); Board Member, Hill House, Inc. (residential home care) (since 1999); formerly, Board Member, Bridges School (pre-school) (2006 to 2017); Managing Director, Equity Capital Markets Group of Merrill Lynch & Co. (1971 to 1999)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   Trustee of Legg Mason funds consisting of 55 portfolios; Director/Trustee of the Royce Family of Funds consisting of 16 portfolios
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   Formerly, Director of TICC Capital Corp. (2003 to 2017)
Thomas F. Schlafly  
Year of birth   1948
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 1983
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Chairman, The Saint Louis Brewery, LLC (brewery) (since 2012); formerly, President, The Saint Louis Brewery, Inc. (1989 to 2012); Senior Counsel (since 2017) and formerly, Partner (2009 to 2016), Thompson Coburn LLP (law firm)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   55
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   Director, CNB St. Louis Bank (since 2020); formerly, Director, Citizens National Bank of Greater St. Louis (2006 to 2020)
 
Interested Trustee and Officer    
Jane Trust, CFA3  
Year of birth   1962
Position(s) with Trust   Trustee, President and Chief Executive Officer
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2015
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Senior Vice President, Fund Board Management, Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Officer and/or Trustee/Director of 123 funds associated with FTFA or its affiliates (since 2015); President and Chief Executive Officer of FTFA (since 2015); formerly, Senior Managing Director (2018 to 2020) and Managing Director (2016 to 2018) of Legg Mason & Co., LLC (“Legg Mason & Co.”); and Senior Vice President of FTFA (2015)
Number of funds in fund complex overseen by Trustee   123
Other board memberships held by Trustee during the past five years   None

 

 

48

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund


 

Additional Officers    

Ted P. Becker

Franklin Templeton

280 Park Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017

 
Year of birth   1951
Position(s) with Trust   Chief Compliance Officer
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2007
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Vice President, Global Compliance of Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Chief Compliance Officer of FTFA (since 2006); Chief Compliance Officer of certain funds associated with Legg Mason & Co. or its affiliates (since 2006); formerly, Director of Global Compliance at Legg Mason, Inc. (2006 to 2020); Managing Director of Compliance of Legg Mason & Co. (2005 to 2020)

Susan Kerr

Franklin Templeton

280 Park Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017

 
Year of birth   1949
Position(s) with Trust   Chief Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2013
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Senior Compliance Analyst, Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Chief Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer of certain funds associated with Legg Mason & Co. or its affiliates (since 2013) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer (since 2012), Senior Compliance Officer (since 2011) and Assistant Vice President (since 2010) of Franklin Distributors, LLC; formerly, Assistant Vice President of Legg Mason & Co. (2010 to 2020)

Marc A. De Oliveira

Franklin Templeton

100 First Stamford Place, 6th Floor, Stamford, CT 06902

 
Year of birth   1971
Position(s) with Trust   Secretary and Chief Legal Officer
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2020
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Associate General Counsel of Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Assistant Secretary of certain funds associated with Legg Mason & Co. or its affiliates (since 2006); formerly, Managing Director (2016 to 2020) and Associate General Counsel of Legg Mason & Co. (2005 to 2020)

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund    

 

49


Additional information (unaudited) (cont’d)

Information about Trustees and Officers

 

Additional Officers (cont’d)    

Thomas C. Mandia

Franklin Templeton

100 First Stamford Place, 6th Floor, Stamford, CT 06902

 
Year of birth   1962
Position(s) with Trust   Senior Vice President
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2020
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Senior Associate General Counsel of Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Secretary of FTFA (since 2006); Assistant Secretary of certain funds associated with Legg Mason & Co. or its affiliates (since 2006); Secretary of LM Asset Services, LLC (“LMAS”) (since 2002) and Legg Mason Fund Asset Management, Inc. (“LMFAM”) (since 2013) (formerly registered investment advisers); formerly, Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Legg Mason & Co. (2005 to 2020)

Christopher Berarducci

Franklin Templeton

280 Park Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017

 
Year of birth   1974
Position(s) with Trust   Treasurer and Principal Financial Officer
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2010 and 2019
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   Vice President, Fund Administration and Reporting, Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Treasurer (since 2010) and Principal Financial Officer (since 2019) of certain funds associated with Legg Mason & Co. or its affiliates; formerly, Managing Director (2020), Director (2015 to 2020), and Vice President (2011 to 2015) of Legg Mason & Co.

Jeanne M. Kelly

Franklin Templeton

280 Park Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017

 
Year of birth   1951
Position(s) with Trust   Senior Vice President
Term of office1 and length of time served2   Since 2007
Principal occupation(s) during the past five years   U.S. Fund Board Team Manager, Franklin Templeton (since 2020); Senior Vice President of certain funds associated with Legg Mason & Co. or its affiliates (since 2007); Senior Vice President of FTFA (since 2006); President and Chief Executive Officer of LMAS and LMFAM (since 2015); formerly, Managing Director of Legg Mason & Co. (2005 to 2020); Senior Vice President of LMFAM (2013 to 2015)

 

FTFA, referenced above, was formerly known as LMPFA prior to November 30, 2023.

 

*

Effective February 7, 2024, Ms. Duersten retired from the Board.

 

**

Effective February 7, 2024, Mr. O’Brien became Chair of the Board.

 

Trustees who are not “interested persons” of the Fund within the meaning of Section 2(a)(19) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”).

 

 

50

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund


 

1

Each Trustee and officer serves until his or her respective successor has been duly elected and qualified or until his or her earlier death, resignation, retirement or removal.

 

2

Indicates the earliest year in which the Trustee became a board member for a fund in the Legg Mason fund complex or the officer took such office.

 

3

Ms. Trust is an “interested person” of the Fund, as defined in the 1940 Act, because of her position with FTFA and/or certain of its affiliates.

 

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund    

 

51


Important tax information (unaudited)

 

By mid-February, tax information related to a shareholder’s proportionate share of distributions paid during the preceding calendar year will be received, if applicable. Please also refer to www.franklintempleton.com for per share tax information related to any distributions paid during the preceding calendar year. Shareholders are advised to consult with their tax advisors for further information on the treatment of these amounts on their tax returns.

The following tax information for the Fund is required to be furnished to shareholders with respect to income earned and distributions paid during its fiscal year.

The Fund hereby reports the following amounts, or if subsequently determined to be different, the maximum allowable amounts, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023:

 

        Pursuant to:      Amount Reported  
Qualified Net Interest Income (QII)      §871(k)(1)(C)        $34,750,830  
Section 163(j) Interest Earned      §163(j)        $118,178,040  

 

 

52

    BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund


BrandywineGLOBAL —

Global Opportunities Bond Fund

 

Trustees

Andrew L. Breech

Stephen R. Gross

Susan M. Heilbron

Arnold L. Lehman

Robin J. W. Masters

Ken Miller

G. Peter O’Brien*

Chair

Thomas F. Schlafly

Jane Trust

Investment manager

Franklin Templeton Fund Adviser, LLC**

Subadviser

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC

Distributor

Franklin Distributors, LLC

Custodian

The Bank of New York Mellon

Transfer agent

Franklin Templeton Investor Services, LLC

3344 Quality Drive

Rancho Cordova, CA 95670-7313

Independent registered public accounting firm

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Baltimore, MD

 

*

 Effective February 7, 2024, Mr. O’Brien became Chair of the Board.

**

Formerly known as Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC.

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

The Fund is a separate investment series of Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust, a Maryland statutory trust.

BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund

Legg Mason Funds

620 Eighth Avenue, 47th Floor

New York, NY 10018

 

The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. The Fund’s Forms N-PORT are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. To obtain information on Form N-PORT, shareholders can call the Fund at 877-6LM-FUND/656-3863.

Information on how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the prior 12-month period ended June 30th of each year and a description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies related to portfolio transactions are available (1) without charge, upon request, by calling the Fund at 877-6LM-FUND/656-3863, (2) at www.franklintempleton.com and (3) on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholders of BrandywineGLOBAL — Global Opportunities Bond Fund. This report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by a current prospectus.

Investors should consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the Fund. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

www.franklintempleton.com

© 2024 Franklin Distributors, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. All rights reserved.


Legg Mason Funds Privacy and Security Notice

 

Your Privacy Is Our Priority

Franklin Templeton* is committed to safeguarding your personal information. This notice is designed to provide you with a summary of the non-public personal information Franklin Templeton may collect and maintain about current or former individual investors; our policy regarding the use of that information; and the measures we take to safeguard the information. We do not sell individual investors’ non-public personal information to anyone and only share it as described in this notice.

Information We Collect

When you invest with us, you provide us with your non-public personal information. We collect and use this information to service your accounts and respond to your requests. The non-public personal information we may collect falls into the following categories:

 

 

Information we receive from you or your financial intermediary on applications or other forms, whether we receive the form in writing or electronically. For example, this information may include your name, address, tax identification number, birth date, investment selection, beneficiary information, and your personal bank account information and/or email address if you have provided that information.

 

 

Information about your transactions and account history with us, or with other companies that are part of Franklin Templeton, including transactions you request on our website or in our app. This category also includes your communications to us concerning your investments.

 

 

Information we receive from third parties (for example, to update your address if you move, obtain or verify your email address or obtain additional information to verify your identity).

 

 

Information collected from you online, such as your IP address or device ID and data gathered from your browsing activity and location. (For example, we may use cookies to collect device and browser information so our website recognizes your online preferences and device information.) Our website contains more information about cookies and similar technologies and ways you may limit them.

 

 

Other general information that we may obtain about you such as demographic information.

Disclosure Policy

To better service your accounts and process transactions or services you requested, we may share non-public personal information with other Franklin Templeton companies. From time to time we may also send you information about products/services offered by other Franklin Templeton companies although we will not share your non-public personal information with these companies without first offering you the opportunity to prevent that sharing.

We will only share non-public personal information with outside parties in the limited circumstances permitted by law. For example, this includes situations where we need to share information with companies who work on our behalf to service or maintain your account or process transactions you requested, when the disclosure is to companies assisting us with our own marketing efforts, when the disclosure is to a party representing you, or when required by law (for example, in response to legal process). Additionally, we will ensure that any outside

 

NOT PART OF THE ANNUAL REPORT


Legg Mason Funds Privacy and Security Notice (cont’d)

 

companies working on our behalf, or with whom we have joint marketing agreements, are under contractual obligations to protect the confidentiality of your information, and to use it only to provide the services we asked them to perform.

Confidentiality and Security

Our employees are required to follow procedures with respect to maintaining the confidentiality of our investors’ non-public personal information. Additionally, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect the information. This includes performing ongoing evaluations of our systems containing investor information and making changes when appropriate.

At all times, you may view our current privacy notice on our website at franklintempleton.com or contact us for a copy at (800) 632-2301.

*For purposes of this privacy notice Franklin Templeton shall refer to the following entities:

Fiduciary Trust International of the South (FTIOS), as custodian for individual retirement plans Franklin Advisers, Inc.

Franklin Distributors, LLC, including as program manager of the Franklin Templeton 529 College Savings Plan and the NJBEST 529 College Savings Plan

Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC

Franklin, Templeton and Mutual Series Funds

Franklin Templeton Institutional, LLC

Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., Canada

Franklin Templeton Investments Management, Limited UK

Franklin Templeton Portfolio Advisors, Inc.

Legg Mason Funds serviced by Franklin Templeton Investor Services, LLC

Templeton Asset Management, Limited

Templeton Global Advisors, Limited

Templeton Investment Counsel, LLC

If you are a customer of other Franklin Templeton affiliates and you receive notices from them, you will need to read those notices separately.

 

NOT PART OF THE ANNUAL REPORT


www.franklintempleton.com

© 2024 Franklin Distributors, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. All rights reserved.

LMFX013158 2/24 SR24-4826


ITEM 2.

CODE OF ETHICS.

The registrant has adopted a code of ethics that applies to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller.

 

ITEM 3.

AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT.

The Board of Trustees of the registrant has determined that Stephen R. Gross possesses the technical attributes identified in Instruction 2(b) of Item 3 to Form N-CSR to qualify as an “audit committee financial expert,” and has designated Stephen R. Gross as the Audit Committee’s financial expert. Stephen R. Gross is an “independent” Trustees pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of Item 3 to Form N-CSR.

 

ITEM 4.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

(a) Audit Fees. The aggregate fees billed in the last two fiscal years ending December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2023 (the “Reporting Periods”) for professional services rendered by the Registrant’s principal accountant (the “Auditor”) for the audit of the Registrant’s annual financial statements, or services that are normally provided by the Auditor in connection with the statutory and regulatory filings or engagements for the Reporting Periods, were $210,621 in December 31, 2022 and $210,621 in December 31, 2023.

(b) Audit-Related Fees. The aggregate fees billed in the Reporting Period for assurance and related services by the Auditor that are reasonably related to the performance of the Registrant’s financial statements were $0 in December 31, 2022 and $0 in December 31, 2023.

(c) Tax Fees. The aggregate fees billed in the Reporting Periods for professional services rendered by the Auditor for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning (“Tax Services”) were $53,000 in December 31, 2022 and $53,000 in December 31, 2023. These services consisted of (i) review or preparation of U.S. federal, state, local and excise tax returns; (ii) U.S. federal, state and local tax planning, advice and assistance regarding statutory, regulatory or administrative developments, and (iii) tax advice regarding tax qualification matters and/or treatment of various financial instruments held or proposed to be acquired or held.

There were no fees billed for tax services by to the service affiliates during the Reporting Periods that required pre-approval by the Audit Auditors Committee.

(d) All Other Fees. The aggregate fees for other fees billed in the Reporting Periods for products and services provided by the Auditor were $0 in December 31, 2022 and $0 in December 31, 2023, other than the services reported in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this item for the Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust.

All Other Fees. There were no other non-audit services rendered by the Auditor to Franklin Templeton Fund Adviser, LLC (“FTFA”), and any entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with FTFA that provided ongoing services to Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust requiring pre-approval by the Audit Committee in the Reporting Period.

(e) Audit Committee’s pre–approval policies and procedures described in paragraph (c) (7) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

(1) The Charter for the Audit Committee (the “Committee”) of the Board of each registered investment company (the “Fund”) advised by FTFA or one of their affiliates (each, an “Adviser”) requires that the Committee shall approve (a) all audit and permissible non-audit services to be provided to the Fund and (b) all permissible non-audit services to be provided by the Fund’s independent auditors to the Adviser and any Covered Service Providers if the engagement relates directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Fund. The Committee may


implement policies and procedures by which such services are approved other than by the full Committee.

The Committee shall not approve non-audit services that the Committee believes may impair the independence of the auditors. As of the date of the approval of this Audit Committee Charter, permissible non-audit services include any professional services (including tax services), that are not prohibited services as described below, provided to the Fund by the independent auditors, other than those provided to the Fund in connection with an audit or a review of the financial statements of the Fund. Permissible non-audit services may not include: (i) bookkeeping or other services related to the accounting records or financial statements of the Fund; (ii) financial information systems design and implementation; (iii) appraisal or valuation services, fairness opinions or contribution-in-kind reports; (iv) actuarial services; (v) internal audit outsourcing services; (vi) management functions or human resources; (vii) broker or dealer, investment adviser or investment banking services; (viii) legal services and expert services unrelated to the audit; and (ix) any other service the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board determines, by regulation, is impermissible.

Pre-approval by the Committee of any permissible non-audit services is not required so long as: (i) the aggregate amount of all such permissible non-audit services provided to the Fund, the Adviser and any service providers controlling, controlled by or under common control with the Adviser that provide ongoing services to the Fund (“Covered Service Providers”) constitutes not more than 5% of the total amount of revenues paid to the independent auditors during the fiscal year in which the permissible non-audit services are provided to (a) the Fund, (b) the Adviser and (c) any entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with the Adviser that provides ongoing services to the Fund during the fiscal year in which the services are provided that would have to be approved by the Committee; (ii) the permissible non-audit services were not recognized by the Fund at the time of the engagement to be non-audit services; and (iii) such services are promptly brought to the attention of the Committee and approved by the Committee (or its delegate(s)) prior to the completion of the audit.

(2) None of the services described in paragraphs (b) through (d) of this Item were performed in reliance on paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

(f) Not applicable.

(g) Non-audit fees billed by the Auditor for services rendered to Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust, FTFA and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with FTFA that provides ongoing services to Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust during the reporting period were $744,135 in December 31, 2022 and $752,124 in December 31, 2023.

(h) Yes. Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust’s Audit Committee has considered whether the provision of non-audit services that were rendered to Service Affiliates, which were not pre-approved (not requiring pre-approval), is compatible with maintaining the Accountant’s independence. All services provided by the Auditor to the Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust or to Service Affiliates, which were required to be pre-approved, were pre-approved as required.

(i) Not applicable.

(j) Not applicable.


ITEM 5.

AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS.

 

  a)

The independent board members are acting as the registrant’s audit committee as specified in Section 3(a)(58)(B) of the Exchange Act. The Audit Committee consists of the following Board members:

Andrew L. Breech

Althea L. Duersten*

Stephen R. Gross

Susan M. Heilbron

Arnold L. Lehman

Robin J. W. Masters

Ken Miller

G. Peter O’Brien

Thomas F. Schlafly

 

  *

Effective February 7, 2024, Ms. Duersten retired from the Board.

 

  b)

Not applicable

 

ITEM 6.

SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS.

Included herein under Item 1.

 

ITEM 7.

DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 8.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 9.

PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS.

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 10.

SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 11.

CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.

 

  (a)

The registrant’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a- 3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)) are effective as of a date within 90 days of the filing date of this report that includes the disclosure required by this paragraph, based on their evaluation of the disclosure controls and procedures required by Rule 30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act and 15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

 

  (b)

There were no changes in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act) that occurred during the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are likely to materially affect the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.


ITEM 12.

DISCLOSURE OF SECURITIES LENDING ACTIVITIES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 13.

RECOVERY OF ERRONEOUSLY AWARDED COMPENSATION.

(a) Not applicable.

(b) Not applicable.

 

ITEM 14.

EXHIBITS.

(a) (1) Code of Ethics attached hereto.

Exhibit  99.CODE ETH

(a) (2)  Certifications pursuant to section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 attached hereto.

Exhibit 99.CERT

(b) Certifications pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 attached hereto.

Exhibit 99.906CERT


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, there unto duly authorized.

Legg Mason Global Asset Management Trust

 

By:  

/s/ Jane Trust

 

Jane Trust

 

Chief Executive Officer

Date:

 

February 28, 2024

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

By:  

/s/ Jane Trust

 

Jane Trust

 

Chief Executive Officer

Date:

 

February 28, 2024

 

By:  

/s/ Christopher Berarducci

 

Christopher Berarducci

 

Principal Financial Officer

Date:

 

February 28, 2024