Lazard launches Scandinavian High Quality Bond Fund

LONDON, 13 February 2019 – Lazard Asset Management (LAM) today announced the launch of the Lazard Scandinavian High Quality Bond Fund.

The Lazard Scandinavian High Quality Bond Fund seeks attractive medium- to long-term investment returns while maintaining a high credit rating profile and high levels of liquidity. This diversified portfolio mainly consists of Scandinavian bonds and global bonds denominated in Scandinavian currencies. The strategy combines bottom-up fundamental analysis and security selection with a top-down asset allocation.

The Fund will be managed by Michael Weidner and Daniel Herdt, members of the Lazard European Fixed Income Team, which has a strong and long-standing track record in the active management of fixed-income strategies.

“The fundamentals of the Scandinavian economies of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark are exceptional, and the bonds have been providing stable performance for many years,” said Michael Weidner, portfolio manager of the Lazard Scandinavian High Quality Bond Fund. “The combination of attractive returns with high levels in credit ratings, liquidity and diversification is appealing to investors – especially in times of geopolitical risk and historically low or negative interest rates. In our opinion, there is no comparable product currently available in the market.”

For over 20 years, Lazard Asset Management has implemented a range of fixed income solutions that offer diversified exposure to the US, international, global, and emerging markets. These solutions now total over $25 billion* in assets under management and are supported by the expertise of more than 275 dedicated investment professionals as well as Lazard’s broader risk management capabilities.

(*as at 31 December 2018)