Switzerland's Vontobel Asset Management has launched a new emerging market debt fund.

The new fund, Vontobel Fund – Emerging Markets Debt, which is managed by Luc D’Hooge, head of emerging market fixed income, invests in emerging bonds denominated in hard currencies. The fund is actively managed, aiming to outperform the JP Morgan EMBI Global Diversified index by 125 basis points per year over rolling three-year periods, the firm said in a statement.

Luc D’hooge, who has more than 20 years' experience in emerging market debt, will use an investment approach which is focused on low-risk, high-information ratio trades, based on proprietary models. 

In addition to the Vontobel Fund – Emerging Markets Debt, the company also manages an Emerging Markets Bond (local currency) Fund and an Eastern European Bond Fund.

In other recent developments, last month Vontobel Asset Management US said the total client funds that it oversees stood at $36 billion at the end of last year, up from $20 billion a year before.