Investor Michael Hasenstab has cut about a third of his holdings of Irish debt across two Franklin Templeton Investments funds, after snapping them up during the financial crisis.
The amount of Irish debt held by US and European versions of the Templeton Global Bond Fund and Templeton Global Total Return Fund fell 32% to €4.7 billion in the fourth quarter from the third quarter.
This is according to figures compiled by Bloomberg from filings.
The market value of Irish bond holdings in the funds fell by $3.63 billion to $7.33 billion.
Mr Hasenstab declined to comment on the firm's Irish strategy.
Michael Hasenstab’s big trades have helped him become one of the world’s most successful bond fund managers.
He helped trigger a turnaround in sentiment towards Ireland by buying Irish debt in July 2011, eight months after the country entered an international bailout.
At one point, Hasenstab’s funds held about 10% of Irish Government debt and his wager has paid off.
Irish bonds have returned about 68% since the end of 2011, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg.
"When no one was buying, we stepped in. Now the world is interested in Ireland again, and to us, it proves having patience can be rewarded," Hasenstab said in a posting on Franklin’s website in January last year.
ECB President Mario Draghi revealed a plan last week which would pump €1.1 trillion into the euro area’s economies by
buying public and private debt.
The yield on Ireland’s benchmark 10-year security fell to 1.17% today from a peak of 14.2% in July 2011, the month Hasenstab started buying the country’s debt.
The NTMA borrowed €500m at a yield of zero yesterday.
But elsewhere, Hasenstab’s bets have not paid off as well, with the value of his Ukrainian bonds slumping by $3 billion in the
fourth quarter.
Investors last year pulled a record $14 billion from the US and European versions of the Templeton Global Bond Fund and
Templeton Global Total Return Fund, which have a combined $150 billion in assets, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
