Aberdeen lands $200m EM corporate bond mandate

Danish pension fund PKA has awarded Aberdeen Asset Management a $200 million emerging markets corporate debt mandate.

The mandate will be overseen by the firm’s emerging market debt team under Brett Diment (pictured), who oversees four developing world funds for the asset management firm.

PKA is one of Denmark’s largest pension funds and oversees five occupational pensions, covering healthcare, office and social workers with 250,000 members in total and $34.5 billion in assets under management.

This award marks the latest major move in the growth of the emerging market corporate debt sector as a standalone sector.

It also comes hot-on-the-heels of Lazard AM’s Arif Joshi publically stating EM corporate debt is on course to rival the US high yield bond market in terms of size.

Commenting on the award, Brett Diment said: ‘Emerging market corporate bonds have come into their own as a standalone asset class. Furthermore the fundamental case for developing economies remains compelling.’

Diment said emerging market corporates are less levered than their developed world counterparts and present opportunities both in investment grade and higher yielding corporate debt names.