The existing Luxembourg AXA FIIS US Short Duration High Yield fund launched about five years ago and has over $4.8 billion in assets under management. This is now being made accessible to UK investors as an onshore OEIC with a minimum initial investment of £1 million (about $1.5 million), targeting financial institutions and large intermediary investors.

Senior portfolio manager Anne Yobage, who runs the offshore fund and will oversee the new OEIC, said: “We take between 150 and 250 positions, with a focus on the better quality high yield bonds with improving fundamentals that are expected to mature within three years. The fund specifically focuses on the short end of the market because it combines the potential returns associated with non-investment grade bonds with a lower sensitivity to interest rates, and therefore diminished risk from rate changes.”