UBS Asset Management launches its first RMB-denominated UCITS fund
UBS Asset Management has launched its first Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS fund denominated in renminbi (RMB), becoming the first fund manager to enter the market with a product that allows global investor direct access to the China interbank bond market.
The UBS (Lux) Bond SICAV – China Fixed Income (RMB) fund was launched on March 15. It will mainly invest in onshore RMB-denominated fixed income instruments, with the net asset value (NAV) calculated in onshore RMB, thus avoiding NAV volatility caused by discrepancies in the currency’s onshore/offshore rates.
IFC, Amundi introduce world’s largest green bond fund
International Finance Corp (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, and European asset manager Amundi announced on March 16 the successful launch of the world’s largest targeted green bond fund focused on emerging markets.
The Amundi Planet Emerging Green One (EGO) fund, which closed at US$1.42 billion, is expected to deploy $2 billion into green bonds of emerging markets over its seven-year lifetime.
With a $256 million cornerstone commitment from IFC, the fund aims to increase the capacity of emerging market banks to fund climate-smart investments.
The fund is the first of its kind to take a holistic approach, by investing in emerging market green bonds, while also supporting the creation of a robust green bond market through tailored capacity building activities.
An IFC-managed technical assistance programme, funded initially by a $7.5 million grant from Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs, will support the creation of new markets for climate finance by developing green bond policies, providing training programmes for bankers, and facilitating the adoption of the Green Bond Principles and international best practices in emerging markets.
Bloomberg unveils new Chinese dollar bond offering
Bloomberg announced the launch of its new Kungfu bond offering on March 20, which it says is the industry’s first-ever set of tools for global investors tracking US dollar-denominated bonds issued by Chinese corporates. The company says the new offering “will advance the visibility and accessibility of the offshore Chinese dollar bond market”, which saw robust issuance in 2017.
The new Kungfu bond offering includes new benchmark yield curves, real-time news on China’s debt capital market and the Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Market (EM) USD Aggregate China Index.
According to Ee Chuan Ng, head of Greater China at Bloomberg, the launch of its Kungfu bond offering provides global investors with "in-depth and dedicated data, news and analytics to invest in the offshore Chinese dollar credit market", and it "enables them to make smarter investment decisions".
“We are proud to be able to play a role in advancing the Kungfu bond market, and further China’s internationalisation of its capital market to global investors,” says Mr. Ng in the statement.
BBH rolls out a risk management tool for asset managers
New York-based investor services firm Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) launched an administrator oversight and risk management tool for asset managers, the BBH InfoNAV, on March 20.
According to BBH, the BBH InfoNAV is designed for managers’ middle office and treasury teams, allowing them to monitor net asset value creation by their third-party fund administrators.
ANREV announces Pan Asia Open-End Diversified Core Fund Index
ANREV, the Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles, launched the Pan Asia Open-end Diversified Core Fund Index (Pan Asia ODCI) on March 22.
The index serves demand from institutions investing in diversified core funds in Asia Pacific. Diversified core funds are an important part of the real estate market in the US and Europe, and the sector is growing in Asia Pacific.
Launched with a gross asset value of US$8 billion, the index comprises four funds with investments in developed real estate markets in the Asia Pacific region. Australia and Japan account for 64.1% of gross asset value. The index has produced a value-weighted one-year rolling return of 17.36%.
To qualify for the index, funds must be open-end and target the following:
- 80% of net assets invested in real estate
- Maximum of 40% leverage
- No more than 65% of real estate net assets in one country
- No more than 70% of real estate net assets in one property type
The new index joins ANREV’s suite of Asia Pacific indices, which have the widest coverage of any fund index in the region, with gross asset value of $129.1 billion as at December 31, 2017.