EMD demand drives Investec fund beyond £1bn

Investec's Emerging Markets Debt fund, the first daily-dealing UK onshore vehicle investing in local currency EMD, has broken through £1bn of assets after seeing substantial flows over the past year.

The fund, managed by Peter Eerdmans, has grown from £91m at the start of 2009 to more than £1.15bn currently. It was just £428m at the beginning of 2010. Investec Asset Management UK distribution managing director David Aird says the asset class has received tremendous interest from the discretionary and wealth manager space. "Most IFAs are aware of emerging market equities, but they are not there yet on EMD. The mass market tends to get its EMD exposure from either a strategic bond fund or a global bond fund," Aird says. "But the wealth managers and the institutional channel are b...