Nordea AM launches Emerging Stars Bond Fund

4 feb 2019

Nordea Asset Management (NAM) has expanded its fixed income offering in the ESG space with the launch of the Nordea 1 - Emerging Stars Bond Fund. After the launch of the European Corporate Stars Bond Fund last month, this fund is NAM’s second fixed income product in its STARS range.

“Given the increasing economic importance of emerging markets, Emerging Market Debt (EMD) is likely to continue delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns in the medium to long term,” says Thede Rüst, Head of Nordea’s EMD team and manager of the Fund. “In addition to the solid risk/return profile and attractive valuations of EMD, the Fund benefits from a proprietary ESG model that goes beyond simply adhering to an exclusion list.” Members of the portfolio management team participate in international working groups and collaborative forums in order to engage with sovereigns and help them define ESG issues in the EM sovereign space.

The fund’s management team also collaborates closely with NAM’s Responsible Investment team. “In the same way that ESG risk is an important factor in EM equities, it can be particularly material in the EM debt environment,” says Marjo Koivisto, co-Head of Responsible Investments at NAM. “The Nordea 1 - Emerging Stars Bond Fund is designed to beat the benchmark and deliver long-term sustainable returns and responsibility by offering a materially improved ESG profile compared to the general market.”

Next to the two fixed income funds, NAM’s STARS range consists of several ESG equity solutions covering Emerging, Global, European, Nordic and North American markets.