UK-based M&G Investments has registered its new M&G Global Corporate Bond Fund for sale across Europe.

M&G said that the fund has been launched to meet rising demand from retail clients for diversification outside of European investment grade corporate.

The firm said that the fund’s performance will be driven through a combination of top-down macro-economic calls, played out in duration risk, and bottom-up stock selection. It is the same tried and tested process with which M&G’s other investment grade corporate bond funds are managed. Although the fund is conviction-led and not constrained by an index, the fund manager will use the Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate Index (US dollar hedged) as a reference for country, currency, sector allocation and duration risk.

The fund, launched in September, is M&G’s first global corporate bond fund for retail investors. It follows research amongst M&G’s client base which revealed a growing demand for a product of this kind, at a time when the universe of actively managed global credit funds remains relatively small, the firm said.

“We’re seeing a strong shift from European to global bond investing. In Europe the sector has been established for some time, in particular in Italy and Switzerland. But demand for the asset class is growing across other European markets too, especially in France, Spain and Sweden. Clients want the investment grade bond diversity that a global corporate bond fund can offer,” Jonathan Willcocks, global head of retail sales at M&G Investments, said.

The M&G Global Corporate Bond Fund is now available to investors in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. (Registration in Switzerland is expected this month).

M&G Investments managed around £234.3 billion ($379.5 billion) of assets, as at 30 June 2013.