Eaton Vance Management International Limited, a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Management, has announced the launch of the Eaton Vance (Ireland) Floating-Rate Income Fund for non-US qualified investors. The Fund is a regulated Irish domiciled qualifying investor alternative investment fund and complies with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The launch is part of Eaton Vance’s active effort to increasingly offer non-US qualified investors an array of its core strategies. Eaton Vance is among the largest managers of floating rate loans in the world, with a total of $42.5 billion (USD) under management, as of 30 September 2014.
The Fund’s objective is to provide a high level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital, by investing in a portfolio primarily of senior floating rate loans of US and non-US corporate borrowers. The Fund invests in income producing floating rate loans and other floating rate debt securities. Senior loans typically are of below investment grade quality and have below investment grade credit ratings, which ratings are associated with securities having high risk, speculative characteristics (sometimes referred to as “junk”). The Fund will be managed by Scott Page and Craig Russ, Co-Directors, Eaton Vance Floating Rate Loan team and John Redding, Vice President.
The Fund is currently seeking the necessary marketing passport registration to enable it to be marketed across various jurisdictions in the European Union under the requirements of AIFMD, as well as separate approvals to be permitted to market in Switzerland and certain Asian jurisdictions.
According to Scott Page, “Backed by 25 years of experience, we are pleased to bring our unique floating-rate loan offering to non-U.S, qualified investors. We invest in the U.S. and European loan markets, with relative allocations based upon both risk/return considerations and the size of the opportunity sets. The investment community now has access to a true alternative to the higher risk strategies prevalent in the region today. Eaton Vance specialises in delivering risk-weighted exposure to a portfolio of large and liquid loans, with an unconditional focus on long-term results. We generally leave middle market and distressed issues to all the others.”
Niall Quinn, President, EVMI, added, “Investors and their consultants across the U.S. and Asia have long gravitated to Eaton Vance’s stability-seeking style. Particular interest today is coming from large institutions grappling with near-zero bond returns and undercompensated risk elsewhere. Seven years into a global economic recovery, we see appetites for unencumbered risk ultimately creating an opportunity to fill the void in risk-managed approaches to the asset class. As investors shift their view of risk, the fund we are launching today will be uniquely positioned to complement or replace existing strategies. Looking ahead, Eaton Vance will continue to develop funds that will provide access outside the U.S. to its leading investment capabilities.”
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