BNY Mellon Global Real Return Fund - Class C DRRCX

BNY Investments has informed us that Ella Gude, co-head of the BNY Mellon Real Return strategy, has left its subsidiary Newton to take on a role with BNY Advisors. Gude’s departure does not alter our existing Below Average People Pillar rating, taking into account the remaining team resources. We also maintain the Process Pillar rating of Average. Aron Pataki, Gude’s fellow Real Return co-head manager, remains in place, alongside portfolio manager Nick Pope. Trevor Holder has been appointed as a third named manager on the flagship fund effective Aug. 20, 2026. Another existing team member, Scott Freedman, has been added to the BNY Mellon Real Return (Responsible) fund’s manager roster alongside Pope. Holder and Freedman joined Newton in 2006 and 2009, respectively. We lowered the People Pillar rating for this strategy to Below Average in 2025 following considerable changes to the management team, while maintaining its Average Process Pillar rating. In May 2025, former co-head Andrew Warwick was one of five departures, and the team changed from a focused unit of nine to a larger, more loosely aligned group including the fixed-income team. Gude became co-head alongside Pataki, a long-serving member of the Real Return team who stepped up to co-head in 2022.