Blackrock
BlackRock launched a sustainable bond exchange-traded fund on Monday. The fund is an extension of the firm’s Environmental, Social And Governance (ESG) product set that includes active funds, index funds and ETFs.
The iShares Euro Corporate Bond Sustainability Screened 0-3yr UCITS ETF (SUSE) tracks the Barclays MSCI Euro Corporate 0-3 year Sustainability ex-Controversial Weapons Index, which includes short-term euro-denominated investment grade bonds issued by corporates with an ESG rating of BBB or above. Bonds included in the index are issued by corporates from across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.
JP Morgan
JP Morgan Asset Management has launched a new UCITS strategy in its SICAV range, the Multi-Manager Alternatives Fund.
The fund, which applies due diligence and risk management to portfolio construction, dynamically allocates to underlying hedge fund sub strategies, based on their relative attractiveness. The fund uses a bottom-up fund manager selection process and will initially include eight to 12 underlying managers. It will target long-term capital appreciation with low volatility and low sensitivity to traditional equity and fixed income markets.
The Multi-Manager Alternatives Fund will be managed by Paul Zummo, chief investment officer, J.P. Morgan Alternative Asset Management. Randy Wachtel and Christopher Marshall will be co-managing the fund.
Bluebay
European specialist fixed income manager BlueBay Asset Management has launched a new total return Luxembourg Ucits fund. The BlueBay Global Sovereign Opportunities Fund. With daily liquidity, the fund is an actively managed global sovereign strategy designed to invest in global rates, currencies, and sovereign credits; across both developed and emerging markets.
The fund has a performance target of cash + 5% to 7% gross of fees, over the market cycle. The portfolio managers have been named as Mark Dowding, co-head of investment grade debt; Russel Matthews, portfolio manager; and David Dowsett, co-head of emerging market debt.
