The fund, which will be managed by Davide Basile and his team, is a long-only “unsophisticated” Ucits III fund which focuses solely on convertible bonds issued by either companies based in Asia or those deriving the predominant part of their earnings from the region. The fund offers daily dealing but requires three days notice for redemptions.
It aims to derive some of its returns from the smaller, less liquid issues in the region and will be capacity constrained at approximately $300m (£188m, €210m).
Basile is a partner and head of global convertibles at RWC Partners and is also responsible for the management of the $1.3bn RWC Global Convertibles Fund.
Dan Mannix, head of business development at RWC Partners, said the fund could appeal to investors looking for a way to invest in the region without experiencing traditional levels of volatility.
“Asian equities are by no means a new story but having the ability to access the asset class through convertible bonds offers some significant benefits. History has shown that convertibles can achieve similar returns to equities but with as little as a third of the volatility,” he said. “Our feeling is that this is a very appealing fund to those investors who like Asian equities but would like a proportion of their allocation to be in something with slightly less volatility.”
