William Blair Investment Management has launched an emerging market fund investing in a broad range of hard-currency bonds.
The Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency Sicav covers bond issuance in the Americas, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
It adds to the firm’s European Sicav offering, which has US$ 2.3 billion of assets and spans US small-mid caps and other emerging markets strategies.
The hard currency fund managed by 11 people and led by Marcelo Assalin and Marco Ruijer.
“Investors are showing increasing interest in emerging markets, recognising both the ability of these regions to meaningfully contribute to portfolios and the challenges faced by more developed countries”, said Assalin, who is head of emerging markets debt at the firm.
Assalin said there was significant room for further growth and issuance within emerging markets, which offered the most attractive value within fixed income markets.
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