Columbia Threadneedle Investments has launched a global bond fund for UK investors.
The CT Global Social Bond Fund will be led by Tammie Tang and aims to invest along the targets of the UN’s sustainable development goals.
The fund, part of Columbia Threadneedle’s social impact range, will focus on the UK and Europe and will determine the suitability of bonds based on their social impact by giving each a social rating based on their “focus on deprivation and clarity of impact reporting,” the company said.
The amount of social impact bonds being issued has grown from $200bn (£157bn) in 2017 to $3.5tn (£2.75tn) this year.
Tammie Tang, pictured, portfolio manager of the new fund, said the launch of the fund is an “important step” in CT’s ongoing commitment to impact investing.
“By actively selecting specific bonds with positive social outcomes, rather than excluding bonds through conventional negative screens, we aim to generate positive social and financial results.”
Michaela Collet Jackson, head of distribution, EMEA, at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said the decision to expand the global strategy was taken following increased client demand for the UK and European social bond strategies.
Fixed income investing has come back into favour with investors after rising inflation led to interest rates being hikes.
Since the start of last year, the price of government and corporate bonds has crashed as interest rates began to rise, meaning investors could gain a similar return from less risky assets.
Investors in the UK put £4bn into fixed income funds in the first six months of the year, according to the Investment Association, compared with £4.7bn withdrawn on a net basis over the whole of 2022.
Earlier this year, AJ Bell’s chief executive, Michael Summersgill told the FT he had never before seen the volume of fixed income purchases happening currently.
sally.hickey@ft.com
