ECM Asset Management, a London-based fixed income and credit manager owned by Wells Fargo, has launched a senior secured fund that will invest in both loans and bonds, the first time the company has managed the two asset classes exclusively together in a single fund.

The new fund will invest in senior secured loans and senior secured high yield bonds. The portfolio will focus on northern non-peripheral Europe, but will also invest more widely as appropriate.

The fund will seek to take advantage of the opportunities, especially in new issuance, arising from reduced bank demand for loans and the absence of new collateralised loan obligations activity in Europe. Investment will also be made in secondary market loans and bonds with yields similar to those available in the primary market.

The fund has a target size of €500 million ($630 million).

ECM currently manages $9.0 billion of European fixed income credit assets, principally in modestly leveraged and unleveraged pooled investment vehicles, for an institutional client base, across a number of credit asset classes.