All prefixed with Nordea 1, the group has launched an Unconstrained Bond, Emerging Markets Small Cap, Chinese Equity and a Corporate Bond fund.
The Unconstrained Bond fund will be run by US credit fixed income specialist MacKay Shields, investing across the credit spectrum using a process of dynamic multi-sector asset allocation and active duration management.
Nordea 1 Emerging Markets Small Cap, managed by Boston-based small cap specialist Copper Rock Capital Partners seeks the higher growth available through small caps but with valuations often found in EM large caps.
The Nordea 1 Chinese Equity and Nordic Corporate Bond funds will both be run by internal teams, the former managed by the international focus equity team and the latter Nordea’s credit team.
The China portfolio aims to take advantage of the country’s shift towards a more consumer-driven economy while the corporate bond fund will invest across the risk spectrum, avoiding financials. Nordea said the fund could exploit the additional premiums available from the Nordic corporate bond market’s many small, and often under-researched, issuers. Hedged back to the euro, the fund should offer diversification from the continental European credit market.
Christophe Girondel, global fund distribution at Nordea Asset Management, said: “Over recent years we have been developing our product range in order to give clients an ever broader suite of investment strategies from which to choose. By launching these four new funds we further extend our potential to deliver alpha in various asset classes and market environments.
“By employing a multi-boutique approach combining internal strengths with external competences, know-how and quality in investment, fund management becomes possible across a broad product range.
“With the four new funds we are now able to offer our clients 67 specialised investment solutions in the Nordea 1 Sicav, more than half of them having above €100m under management.”
In September, Nordea hired Liz Adnitt as head of UK discretionary sales, reporting to head of UK wholesale Paul Malpas.
At the time, Malpas said: "As a leading European asset manager, increasing our footprint in the UK market is a major goal for our company and Liz’s arrival is pivotal in further highlighting many of our unique strategies."
