1167 Capital, the specialist global and emerging market bond house founded in 2016, recently launched two Dublin-domiciled UCITS funds with over $100 million in assets under management.
Co-managed by Michael Mabbutt and Felix Martin, the new fund range offers investors access to two funds that invest actively across the global government bond universe, with a bias towards the emerging markets, and with a choice of two investment objectives.
The Global High Income Bond Fund (currently $80 million) aims to deliver a high level of income relative to US Treasuries while the Global Total Return Bond Fund (currently $35 million) aims to maximise risk-adjusted total return.
Matthew Sethard-Wright, CEO, said: “Establishing a new business is always a major challenge – but to do so in what was a challenging 2016 from a global macro perspective, and to receive the strong investor support for our funds that we did, is very encouraging. Our clients are a real mix in terms of business type, are based throughout the UK and Europe, and include some of the industry’s most experienced and astute stewards of capital.”
The two Dublin-domiciled UCITS funds have over $100 million in assets under management
He added: “Malta and Gozo are key distribution markets for 1167 and since 1993 Michael and I have built up a number of longstanding relationships that continue to flourish today. Notably, Curmi and Partners Ltd, who has kindly agreed to be our sponsoring broker.”
David Curmi, managing director of Curmi and Partners Ltd, said: “We have known most of the team at 1167 from their previous roles over many years and believe that they have established a product that can provide investors with regular, stable income by actively investing in global sovereign debt markets. A truly active fund manager has a place in today’s market place and we believe that the 1167 team have the background and experience to navigate successfully their area of expertise.”
Felix Martin, fund manager, explained: “Our proposition at 1167 Capital is simple. First, we believe that hard and local currency emerging market sovereign bonds will become an ever more important component of fixed income allocations over the next decade. Second, we believe strongly that active management can add significant value – and that with 1167 Capital, investors can benefit from an investment process that has genuinely stood the test of time over the nearly two and a half decades since Michael started managing emerging market bonds in 1993.”
Michael Mabbutt, fund manager, concluded: “We founded 1167 Capital because long experience has taught us that actively managed emerging market government bonds can provide an attractive return profile and a key source of diversification for many investors. Felix and I see tremendous opportunity in the current environment, and look forward to helping our Maltese investors to exploit it.”
1167 Capital was established in 2016 by a team of experienced asset management professionals who have worked together in various roles over many years and who wished to create a specialist, independent investment manager able to focus solely on delivering outperformance for clients through active management of global bond products.