Luxembourg-based fund to offer high yield opportunity

The Natixis Euro High Income Fund is poised to address current investor demand for European high yield bonds in the UK and continental Europe, according to Natixis Global Associates International.

The Natixis Euro High Income Fund invests in Euro credit bonds with a “High Yield” rating, which equates to a rating less than BBB (Standard & Poor’s), Baa3 (Moody’s) or equivalent.

“Investors continuously seek portfolio diversification with an attractive risk-return ratio and uncorrelated assets. Euro High Yield is a unique segment within the bond asset class. Average returns range well above Investment Grade yields against significantly higher volatility and risks. Euro High Yield bonds have also demonstrated low or negative correlation of spreads compared to other asset classes,” said Hervé Guinamant, president and CEO, Natixis Global Associates International.

The fund is jointly managed by Philippe Berthelot, CFA, and Vincent Marioni, EFFAS, of Natixis Asset Management, a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management. Both fund managers have over 15 years fixed income investment experience.

An internal research team of 11 credit analysts at Natixis Asset Management provides in-depth analysis across all sectors and ratings to identify issuers with attractive risk/return ratios.

In addition to the “bottom up” management process operated on the portfolio, the fund management team deploys maximum internal holding criteria by sectors and issuers to achieve best possible portfolio diversification. The size of the Euro High Yield bond universe was EUR 150 billion at the end of January 2011.

Since inception in November 2010, the Natixis Euro High Income Fund portfolio comprises between 60 and 80 securities, with assets under management of EUR 105 million as of end of March 2011.

The Fund is a sub-fund of Natixis International Funds (Lux) I, an open-ended Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS, and is available in Euro. The minimum investment is 100,000 euros. The fund has a Total Expense Ratio (TER) of 1% and a maximum sales charge of 3%.