London-based William Blair Investment Management has launched an Emerging Markets Frontier Debt Sicav fund.
The fund will be co-managed by portfolio managers Yvette Babb and Daniel Wood, under the leadership of Marcelo Assalin, head of emerging markets debt .
The fund will invest primarily in a combination of local currency and hard currency denominated government debt from frontier markets countries across Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Frontier markets – a subset of emerging markets (EMs) – are typically smaller economies in an earlier stage of their development and expected to grow faster than emerging or developed economies. These economies, such as Kenya, Egypt, Sri Lanka, and the Dominican Republic, generally have lower overall market capitalisation than emerging or developed economies and often less liquidity.
Frontier markets are also under-researched and less well-understood than larger economies, creating greater opportunities to uncover value for those with intricate knowledge of these geographies.
Daniel Wood, Portfolio Manager at William Blair Investment Management, said: “As investors continue to add exposure to emerging markets, we are committed to remaining at the fore of providing solutions that grant access to the expanding and untapped universe of frontier markets.
“Local currency denominated frontier debt has traditionally been more challenging for investors to access – the Emerging Markets Frontier Debt strategy will allow our clients to add diversification and gain exposure to these assets with the selectivity, risk controls, and expertise we have established through years of experience in investing in emerging markets.”
