The investment manager said the BNY Mellon Standish Global Bond Fund is registered for sale in Australia and was seeded last week with AUD$50m capital from an institutional investor.
The scheme seeks to explore opportunities across global bond markets including sovereign bonds, investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, and emerging market debt.
“The bond fund is currently only available for Australian and NZ investors; however, the underlying strategy is available in separate account form in all the main jurisdictions of the world,” a company spokesperson said.
Standish has been managing money for clients domiciled in Australia since 2005 and has grown its local assets under management to over AUD$1.7bn. It previously only offered its fixed income management expertise to large institutional Australian investors in separate account form.
Bruce Murphy, head of BNY Mellon Investment Management’s Australian business said the company expects this business momentum to build with the introduction of a global bond fund.
Raman Srivastava, Standish’s co-deputy chief investment officer and managing director of global fixed income said: “Our fund and related strategy will allow for a dynamic yet controlled approach to investing across the global bond landscape. This is critical during a period when central banks are removing accommodation from the global financial system, resulting in the potential for higher global interest rates.”
On a query about the prospects for the fund, the spokesperson said: “In all macro environments, and particularly the uncertain environment we currently face, bond funds such as this with a focus on liquidity, safety and income are a strong portfolio diversifier from equity risk.”
Wholly owned by BNY Mellon, Standish Mellon Asset Management is a fixed interest investment manager with $164bn in assets under management as of 31 March 2014. BNY Mellon Investment Management manages about $1.6trn in assets under management as at 31 March 2014.
