The launch represents a milestone in NAM’s expansion into systematic fixed income investing, following the appointment of Lucette Yvernault and Marton Huebler in October 2025, as part of its commitment to building quantitative investment capabilities.

In recent years, Nordea’s BetaPlus Enhanced strategies have gained traction among investors seeking lower active risk solutions with consistent long-term repeatable excess returns.

The strategy applies NAM’s BetaPlus framework to the US investment grade corporate bond universe, harnessing fundamental, technical and valuation factor analysis to identify compelling opportunities across issuers. By combining rigorous systematic security selection with disciplined portfolio construction and robust risk management, the strategy seeks consistent excess returns over time.

Spiro
African EV platform has raised $215 million in equity to scale electric mobility and energy infrastructure across Africa, backed by institutional investors including Impact Fund Denmark, and Equitane.

With Spiro already operating in seven of Africa’s fastest-growing urban markets, this transaction positions Spiro among the continent’s main clean infrastructure platforms. This investment will accelerate the expansion of Spiro’s battery-swapping network, industrial footprint and next-generation electric vehicles (EV) infrastructure throughout high-growth African markets.

As African economies strive to reduce dependence on imported fuel, reinforce energy and industrial sovereignty, and modernise urban transport systems, the firm said global investors are increasingly turning to scalable EV infrastructure platforms. For riders, the economic impact is immediate: operating a Spiro electric vehicle can reduce daily mobility costs by up to 40 per cent, generating savings of up to $2 per day compared with using fossil-fuel motorcycles, the firm said in a statement.

Recent third-party verified lifecycle assessment results conducted on Spiro’s operations in Kenya highlight the environmental impact potential of EV infrastructure deployment across African cities: Spiro’s electric bikes deliver a 72 per cent reduction in climate impact compared with fossil-fuel motorcycles – equivalent to approximately 19 tons of CO2 emissions avoided over a vehicle’s lifespan.

The study also identified an 80 per cent reduction in ozone depletion potential and a 20 per cent reduction in particulate matter emissions, underscoring the role electric mobility can play in improving urban air quality and reducing public health risks in rapidly growing cities.

PGIM
, a $1.4 trillion global asset management business of Prudential Financial, has launched the PGIM Global Private Credit Fund SCA, a Luxembourg-domiciled Part II UCI fund designed for wealth investors in the UK, continental Europe and Asia. The lead portfolio manager is PGIM’s global head of middle market direct lending, Matthew Harvey, who also oversees the broader investment team.

The UCI aims to deliver income, long-term capital appreciation and global diversification by investing in senior secured loans to middle market companies in North America, Europe and Australia. While sector agnostic, it focuses on stable, less cyclical industries and generally avoids those that are highly levered, volatile or heavily regulated, the firm said in a statement.

The UCI, which is domiciled in Luxembourg, has initially been passported for marketing in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, and is available for private placement to qualified investors in other jurisdictions, including the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The investment team seeks value in middle market lending by targeting companies with EBITDA of $10 to $75 million. This segment of the market typically has spreads that are higher and covenant protections that are stronger than other areas of direct lending and can deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns.

With a significant portion of the portfolio allocated to non-sponsored loans from privately held companies, the UCI can provide wealth investors access to a broader, more diverse segment of the market and a portfolio that is complementary to those that focus solely on private equity-sponsored loans. In the US alone, more than 90 per cent of the addressable market remains non-sponsored. Europe also presents a growing opportunity for direct lending loans as the penetration rate in European markets remains behind the US and is structurally growing.

“This UCI offers an alternative and diversified return stream to help manage the risk and return profiles of portfolios. As more wealth investors turn to private credit, we believe that we can deliver the expertise, alignment and differentiation that they are looking for through drawing upon over two decades of experience managing direct lending strategies for institutional investors,” Matt Shafer, head of international wealth at PGIM, said.

PGIM specialises in private credit with over $100 billion in assets under management in the asset class and over two decades of institutional direct lending experience, which reflects a strong culture of conservative credit underwriting.