The Luxembourg-domiciled funds, all in its World Funds range, have been registered for sale in the UK and have gained UK reporting fund status.
The funds can be accessed through a clean share ‘F’ class which is RDR-compliant, making them free from commission and rebate payments.
“We’ve been working hard to make our offshore fund range more easily accessible to UK investors. AXA Investment Managers is a global asset manager offering funds across all asset classes,” head of UK wholesale distribution, Rob Bailey, said.
A number of funds in the World Funds range have seen particular interest from UK investors, according to the firm. They include the following four funds which have had a higher degree of interest from the UK market:
- Global Strategic Bonds, managed by Nick Hayes. This takes a global unconstrained and active approach to search for opportunities across the fixed income spectrum. The fund distributes returns on a quarterly basis.
- Emerging Markets Short Duration Bonds invests in short-dated bonds in the emerging markets and is managed by Damien Buchet. The fund is aimed at investors seeking to benefit from the long-term growth prospects and yield opportunities, but who are wary of uncertainty and volatility in a rising rate environment.
- Universal Inflation Bonds is managed by Jonathan Baltora, and aims to achieve income and capital growth through investing in the global inflation-linked bonds market.
- AXA WF Framlington Global Convertibles, managed by Marc Basselier. This fund offers equity investors exposure to the equity market upside with potential lower risk while bond investors can hope for better returns through introducing limited equity risk, a potentially better option than going further down the rating curve.
Bailey added: "Advisers are increasingly seeking to recommend offshore funds to increase their options for clients and there is an evident trend in more offshore funds being registered for sale in the UK. At AXA IM we would like to ensure that it is as easy as possible for advisers to access these funds. I hope that platform providers note this growing trend and consider including more offshore funds in their intermediary offering, to ensure an equal footing in the UK market."
