Blackrock Launches Unconstrained Sterling Bond Fund

BlackRock launched a total return bond fund that seeks out income in global fixed income markets, while maintaining a UK bias. The BlackRock Sterling Strategic Bond Fund (‘the Fund’) is not constrained to any specific benchmark, and aims to deliver attractive levels of income through opportunistic and conviction-driven investing.

The Fund has core holdings in sterling-denominated corporate bonds but with the flexibility to exploit a broader opportunity set, sourcing income from across the entire fixed income universe including strategic allocations to emerging markets and high yield.

The Fund will focus on three well defined but complimentary elements:

1. High quality income generation from sterling and overseas corporate bonds
2. High conviction alpha extracted from both global credit and macro markets
3. Efficient allocation to broad fixed income sectors including global high yield and emerging markets

Jeremy Roberts, Head of UK Retail Sales at BlackRock, says: “As financial markets become increasingly diverse and complex, the hunt for yield gets even harder. In a low-return, low-rate world, income is golden. With a go-anywhere approach we believe this fund will appeal to investors that are looking for an attractive income delivered by experienced managers with a strong track record.”

Ben Edwards, Co-manager of the BlackRock Sterling Strategic Bond, adds: “We’re delighted to be able to offer the Sterling Strategic Bond fund to complement our existing UK Fixed Income range. While investors are not suffering from a lack of choice in this sector, we believe clients will benefit from the same outcome driven style and disciplined risk management that have underlined our successful Corporate Bond Fund over the last 10 years.”

Simon Blundell, co-manager of the BlackRock Sterling Strategic Bond, adds: “We are excited to broaden our existing suite of offerings in the UK fixed income space with the launch of the Sterling Strategic Bond fund. The funds approach will build on our success on the Corporate Bond fund with the addition of a wider more global opportunity set. We will also asset allocate between different parts of the global fixed income markets including high yield and emerging markets to enhance the level of income we know our clients require in this low yield environment.”

BlackRock’s Global Fixed Income business manages $1.53trillion on behalf of clients, with over 400 professionals providing expertise on research, portfolio management, risk management and quantitative analysis (as at 31 March 2016).