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Overview
Overview

The Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency Strategy is a value-oriented fixed income strategy that seeks high total return from income and price appreciation by investing in a range of Sovereign, Quasi-Sovereign and Corporate Debt securities in Emerging Markets. Investments are mostly denominated in U.S. currency, and, to a lesser extent, in non-U.S. and/or local currencies. To help achieve its objective, the strategy combines top-down country allocation with bottom-up security selection.

 

Differentiators
1
Global presence

The team is supported by Morgan Stanley’s presence in nearly every major financial market and region, drawing on the scale and scope of the firm’s global franchise to help manage risks and identify opportunities throughout market cycles.

2
Experience and complementary skill set

The team is comprised of investment professionals with complementary skills sets, which facilitate informed, well-researched investment decisions. MSIM has managed dedicated EMD assets since 1993, with the Head of the EMD effort being involved since 1997.

3
Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s structure

The firm’s structure allows for entrepreneurial flexibility, equipping the investment team with the liberty to respond quickly to market developments and swiftly implement investment ideas.

Investment Approach

The team believes that Sovereign, Quasi-Sovereign and Corporate Debt securities of Emerging Markets that are undergoing positive fundamental change may present attractive investment opportunities. Further, historical data shows that the performance correlation of emerging market debt with other asset classes can be low, thus providing potential diversification benefits.1

The team aims to capture the upside potential of Emerging Market Debt securities through:

  • Country and security analysis
  • Value orientation

Investment Process

1
Macro analysis

The team begins with a top-down analysis of the global macro environment, its impact on EM, and the market’s appetite for risk. The output of the analysis is an overall risk target for all of our portfolios relative to their respective benchmarks.

2
Sovereign analysis

The team’s objective is to analyze countries’ ability and willingness to pay and identify countries that exhibit positive rates of change using frameworks that meld economic, political, and social assessments. We then compare our fundamental views with the market’s to identify value opportunities.

3
Security selection

The team’s models provide perspective on market valuations in different time periods, enabling them to identify potential mispricing and alpha opportunities. Each potential security is analyzed through a variety of valuation metrics.

4
Portfolio construction

The team uses a Positioning & Sizing framework that takes into consideration the total return potential of investment alternatives, the volatility of returns and correlation of such potential positions to assess risk, and a conviction factor about the return/risk trade-off based on a comprehensive review of event risk (including near-term political factors) and the market technicals such as planned issuance, investors’ positioning, and outlook for asset class flows. 

5
Risk management

Risk management is integrated throughout the team’s investment process. An independent team also monitors portfolio adherence to guidelines, overall risk levels, and composition.

Portfolio Managers

Team Insights

RISK CONSIDERATIONS  

Diversification does not protect you against a loss in a particular market; however it allows you to spread that risk across various asset classes.

There is no assurance that a portfolio will achieve its investment objective. Portfolios are subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the portfolio will decline. Market values can change daily due to economic and other events (e.g. natural disasters, health crises, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) that affect markets, countries, companies or governments. It is difficult to predict the timing, duration, and potential adverse effects (e.g. portfolio liquidity) of events. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in this strategy. Please be aware that this strategy may be subject to certain additional risks. Fixed-income securities are subject to the ability of an issuer to make timely principal and interest payments (credit risk), changes in interest rates (interest-rate risk), the creditworthiness of the issuer and general market liquidity (market risk). In the current rising interest-rate environment, bond prices may fall and may result in periods of volatility and increased portfolio redemptions. Longer-term securities may be more sensitive to interest rate changes. In a declining interest-rate environment, the portfolio may generate less income. High yield securities (“junk bonds”) are lower rated securities that may have a higher degree of credit and liquidity risk. Foreign securities are subject to currency, political, economic and market risks. The risks of investing in emerging market countries are greater than risks associated with investments in foreign developed markets. Sovereign debt securities are subject to default risk. The use of leverage may increase volatility in the Portfolio. Derivative instruments can be illiquid, may disproportionately increase losses and may have a potentially large negative impact on the portfolio’s performance. Non-diversified portfolios often invest in a more limited number of issuers. As such, changes in the financial condition or market value of a single issuer may cause greater volatility. Restricted and illiquid securities may be more difficult to sell and value than publicly traded securities (liquidity risk).

 

1 Diversification does not protect you against a loss in a particular market; however it allows you to spread that risk across various asset classes.

This communication is only intended for and will be only distributed to persons resident in jurisdictions where such distribution or availability would not be contrary to local laws or regulations.

There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will work under all market conditions, and each investor should evaluate their ability to invest for the long-term, especially during periods of downturn in the market. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

A separately managed account may not be appropriate for all investors. Separate accounts managed according to the Strategy include a number of securities and will not necessarily track the performance of any index. Please consider the investment objectives, risks and fees of the Strategy carefully before investing. A minimum asset level is required. For important information about the investment manager, please refer to Form ADV Part 2.

Any views and opinions provided are those of the portfolio management team and are subject to change at any time due to market or economic conditions and may not necessarily come to pass. Furthermore, the views will not be updated or otherwise revised to reflect information that subsequently becomes available or circumstances existing, or changes occurring. The views expressed do not reflect the opinions of all portfolio managers at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) or the views of the firm as a whole, and may not be reflected in all the strategies and products that the Firm offers.

All information provided has been prepared solely for information purposes and does not constitute an offer or a recommendation to buy or sell any particular security or to adopt any specific investment strategy. The information herein has not been based on a consideration of any individual investor circumstances and is not investment advice, nor should it be construed in any way as tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice. To that end, investors should seek independent legal and financial advice, including advice as to tax consequences, before making any investment decision.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

The indexes are unmanaged and do not include any expenses, fees or sales charges. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Any index referred to herein is the intellectual property (including registered trademarks) of the applicable licensor. Any product based on an index is in no way sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by the applicable licensor and it shall not have any liability with respect thereto.

The JP Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Global (EMBI Global) tracks total returns for traded external debt instruments in the emerging markets, and is an expanded version of the EMBI+. As with the EMBI+, the EMBI Global includes US dollar-denominated Brady bonds, loans, and Eurobonds with an outstanding face value of at least $500 million.

The information presented represents how the portfolio management team generally implements its investment process under normal market conditions.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management is the asset management division of Morgan Stanley.