Robeco has launched two new high-conviction strategies: Emerging Market Bonds and Emerging Market Bonds Local Currency.
The firm writes that by launching these standalone offerings, Robeco enhances its emerging markets (EM) offering and expands its existing fixed income lineup. The new strategies target institutional clients that are looking for an actively managed portfolio aiming for superior risk-adjusted returns and core allocation to sovereign emerging markets debt (EMD).
The strategies will be managed by the new EMD team that was hired last year. With an average experience of over 15 years in EMD, the team members will leverage Robeco’s existing fixed income strengths and capabilities, as well as closely coordinating with the well-established Quant and Sustainable Investing teams to fully capture emerging market opportunities across its expansive investment universe.
The two new strategies, which employ a structured top-down and a comprehensive bottom-up investment process, are designed to unlock value across inefficient emerging markets by actively navigating macro-economic, political and sustainability risks. To deliver strong outperformance across market conditions, a proprietary in-house framework has been developed over the years for evaluating sovereign credit-worthiness and relative value assessments, enriched with sustainability considerations.
Diliana Deltcheva, Head of EMD at Robeco, says: “We aim to deliver superior investment returns by deploying comprehensive analysis of all relevant information impacting emerging market debt investments.
“We’re not simply mirroring the benchmark: we’re leveraging our experience and frameworks to take selective, high-conviction positions when appropriate. The two strategies aim to offer higher rewards but will also tolerate higher risk due to this disciplined investment approach. While we may not yet have an established track record at Robeco, we have extensive experience in successfully managing EMD funds through different market cycles. At the end of the day, if you deploy a complete investment framework you can extract value and grow assets within an inefficient asset class like EMD.”
EM is one of Robeco’s five key investments strengths. As part of the company’s 2021-2025 strategy, enhancing its EM capabilities with a sovereign EMD capability is an important next step in addressing market demand.
Erik van Leeuwen, Head of Fixed Income at Robeco, says: “EMD is a dynamic and evolving asset class and we’re excited about its future at Robeco. We understand how challenging it can be to stand out, but with a high-conviction management approach and a robust investment framework, this sets us apart to approach emerging markets from all angles. Above all, we strive to deliver these results with consistency for our clients.”
