ING Investment Management plans to launch two funds in April in order to give UK and European investors broader access to its debt strategies.
The Asian corporate high yield fund will replicate an existing fund offered to Japanese investors. It will be managed by ING IM’s head of Asian debt, Joep Huntjens, who has been working in Singapore since 2010.
ING IM business development manager Peter Wilson said: “There have been a lot of assets raised by investment managers in dedicated emerging market debt strategies.
“We are taking that one step further in order to offer an area where we see strong opportunity, value and interest from clients.”
At a time when most global funds are concentrated on the US and Europe, Asian corporate high yield offers good value, he added, with an increase in the number of companies issuing debt.
The product is structured as a UCITS fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, and will be seeded with €100m.
ING IM is also creating a version of its Netherlands-based asset backed securities (ABS) fund, which has been run for internal purposes since 2000.
Wilson said: “We have primarily been managing the money for our internal insurance company. What we are looking to do, based on external demand, is to take the strategy and put it into a fund structure which enables third party investors to come in.
“Historically, ABS funds have primarily been invested in by insurance companies, and institutions like pension funds. But this mindset has changed over the past 12 to 18 months. Investors are looking to obtain interest rate protection, and the floating rate note aspect of ABS offers that.”
The European ABS fund will be regulated under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and domiciled in Luxembourg. The fund managers are Calvin Davies and Annemieke Coldeweijer. It will be seeded with €250m from the former Dutch fund.
The launch of both funds is subject to regulatory approval.
ING IM opened its UK office in 2011, and primarily deals with larger partners, such as discretionary wealth managers and multi-managers.
Wilson said the firm still has ambitious expansion plans: “We continue to build partnerships, grow assets and in the sectors we see as key to our ongoing strategy.”
