The Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits III fund will be managed by Amit Tanna and Harry Bazzaz, with a minimum investment of $35,000. Tanna believes the “non-profit motivated” nature of most EM currency flows represents an opportunity for investors.
“Relative value ‘alpha’ opportunities are becoming a more important source of return and this is a key focus of this fund – with the majority of currency flows in emerging markets being non-profit motivated, inefficiencies arise and can provide real ‘alpha’ potential,” said Tanna.
JPM will have an on-the-ground presence in countries including Brazil, India and China as part of the fund’s research processes. Separately, another JPM EM offering, the £139m JP Morgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust, has announced it is to raise new capital via a C-Share offering.
The likes of Investec have already unveiled EM currency products to the market already this year, though the weight of interest in emerging markets debt has inevitably led to caution among some managers: Schroders’ Geoff Blanning, manager of the $9.3bn Schroder ISF Emerging Markets Debt Absolute Return Fund, held 27.1% of his fund in cash as at 31 January in anticipation of a rockier road in the coming months.
“Not all EM countries were created equal. Differences in fundamentals provide a significant opportunity to exploit relative value trends within emerging markets," said Tanna.
