Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Global asset manager Janus Henderson has announced the launch of its Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency Fund managed by ex-Danske Bank Asset Management’s emerging market debt team. The four-person Copenhagen-based team, consisting of Bent Elvin Lystbaek, Jacob Ellinge Nielsen, Thomas Haugaard, and Sorin Pirău, joined Janus Henderson in September of last year to run their almost ten-year-old strategy.
The Janus Henderson Horizon Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency Fund will seek to generate consistent risk-adjusted returns by investing in the full universe of hard currency bonds in emerging markets. The fund will build and maintain a diversified portfolio of sovereign, quasi-sovereign, supranational, and corporate debt from emerging market issuers. The four-member team has been working together on the strategy they developed for almost a decade. The team is based in Copenhagen, where Janus Henderson recently opened its first office in the Nordics to further strengthen its footprint in the region.
“I am thrilled that we are expanding the range of fixed income capabilities available to our clients,” comments Preben Oeye, Head of Nordics at Janus Henderson. “The Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency team has a proven track record and the skills to generate solid risk-adjusted returns for our clients.”
“Emerging market debt is a fast-growing segment of the market that many investors look to for higher income and risk-adjusted returns.”
“Emerging market debt is a fast-growing segment of the market that many investors look to for higher income and risk-adjusted returns,” comments Jim Cielinski, Global Head of Fixed Income at Janus Henderson. “This key capability complements our overall global fixed income offering and is a critical component of a global fixed income platform that supports single-strategy and multi-sector portfolios,” he elaborates. “As we move closer to the end of the US hiking cycle, the outlook for emerging markets looks bright and I am delighted that we can offer investors in Europe access to this new product.”
The focus of the strategy is to generate performance via a combination of country allocation and security selection, rather than relying on large thematic or broader global market drivers. The team relies on an analytical framework based on both quantitative and qualitative factors to assess sovereign credit risk systematically across the entire investment universe. The framework serves as the starting point in the process of identifying investment opportunities at the country level, which is then complemented by bottom-up security selection.
“The strong support setup at Janus Henderson enables us in the Emerging Markets Debt team to really focus on core investment activities and our passion for investing, including extensive travelling to the countries under our coverage; in excess of 25 countries a year,” says Thomas Haugaard, Portfolio Manager on the Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency team. “We are delighted to be able to offer our expertise to clients and the launch of this product means that it is even more accessible to a broader range of investors.”
