Investment Philosophy

The investment philosophy underpinning Barings Emerging Markets Debt Short Duration strategy is to exploit market dislocations by:

• Seeking to identify favorable secular and cyclical credit stories
• Capitalizing on relative value opportunities
• Avoiding credit events by investing in bonds that are nearing maturity
   

We believe that opportunities can be identified by looking at dislocations in emerging markets and attempting to identify undervalued securities – those that trade at attractive prices relative to their intrinsic value.

We also believe our portfolios should be prudently diversified. Allocations to credit risk should be effectively managed to minimize exposure to any one sector or issuer, helping to limit the downside from unforeseen or unpredictable credit events that may generate negative returns.

The strategy is designed to provide the potential for:

• Stable income generation with historically lower volatility
• Protection from interest rate risk, while still offering attractive total return potential compared to equivalent U.S. Treasuries
• Diversification across the $2.1 trillion EM corporate bond debt market (36% of which comprises maturities between 1-3 years and 60% within 5 years)

Our Value Add

• Consistent and rigorous bottom-up analysis, coupled with top-down macroeconomic research to identify issuers with stable, sustainable business models.
• Experienced emerging markets platform comprised of 20 investment professionals averaging 14+ years of investment experience and managing $7.0 billion in emerging markets debt.