In response to the growing appetite for fixed-income assets outside of the U.S., WisdomTree has launched an actively managed global corporate bond exchange traded fund.
The WisdomTree Global Corporate Bond Fund (NYSEArca: GLCB) will try to generate returns through income and capital appreciation by investing in debt of corporate issuers from countries around the globe. GLCB has a 0.45% expense ratio.
“We believe fixed income investors should not limit themselves to a domestic universe of corporate debt securities when an expanding $11.2 trillion global credit market presents robust opportunities in our increasingly global economy,” Luciano Siracusano, WisdomTree Chief Investment Strategist, said in a press release.
“We believe the strong balance sheets of multinational corporations, continued demand for corporate issuance and the persistence of low interest rates around the world present attractive opportunities in global credit markets,” Ryan Brist, GLCB Portfolio Manager of Western Asset, said in the press release.
The ETF will have 55% of its holdings in investment grade assets and it may include U.S. and international high yield debt, along with emerging market corporate debt. Additionally, the active ETF will also hedge non-U.S. currency exposure back to the U.S.. Consequently, negative performance due to foreign currency depreciation would be mitigated.
Currently, GLCB’s asset allocations include corporate bonds 51.5%, foreign bonds 46.0% and preferred stock 2.5%.