Aberdeen Investments launches a Global Enhanced Yield Fund
30 March 2026Aberdeen Investments has launched Aberdeen SICAV I Global Enhanced Yield Fund (“the Fund”), offering a differentiated approach to global high yield investing by harvesting coupon income. The fund is also SFDR Article 8 compliant.
The Fund is available for distribution in Hong Kong and European countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The Fund aims to isolate and enhance returns generated from coupon (i.e. interest payments) and carry (i.e. the income earned by holding investments) within portfolio construction. It also explores the opportunity set globally by investing up to 30% allocation into emerging markets, while maintaining at least 70% developed market exposure and an average portfolio credit rating of BB-, with volatility in line with the Global High Yield index to avoid overextending risk.
George Westervelt, Head of Global High Yield, Aberdeen Investments, comments:
“In an environment where financial markets are increasingly influenced by volatile and opaque macroeconomic headlines, dependable coupon income plays a critical role in both preserving and strengthening total returns for our investors.
Global high yield remains one of the most compelling segments in fixed income. But unlocking its potential isn’t straightforward. Coupon income can consistently drive total returns – but capturing it requires more than passive exposure. A global, risk-aware approach that combines diversification, disciplined credit selection and robust risk management can help investors harness the power of high yield without stretching into excessive risk.”
Fixed income often conjures images of modest returns. But global high yield stands out. Over the past 20 years, it has delivered annualised returns of around 6-7%.1 However, many investors struggle to unlock its full potential. Liquidity constraints, forced rebalancing, and capturing defaults can all erode returns, particularly in less liquid parts of the market.
Deconstructing the return drivers of global high yield over the last 5, 10, and 20 years, by far the most important return driver for high yield is coupon income, accounting for over 110% of total returns across 5, 10, and 20-year periods—making it the dominant and most consistent return source.2 Duration plays a limited role given the short-dated nature of the asset class, and while security selection matters, it can be a volatile – in 9 out of the last 20 calendar years, the return contribution from spread changes has been negative.
Emerging Markets (EM) often offer higher coupons than Developed Markets (DM), without necessarily introducing disproportionate risk. Recent data indicates that EM high-yield bonds typically yield 8-9%, compared to 5-7% in DM.3 Global diversification can help investors achieve a better balance between income, yield and risk, reducing reliance on any single market as a source of performance.
George Westervelt added: “Adopting a global approach to high-yield investing enables access to a wider range of yield and credit quality across regions. Through effective security selection, it is possible to find higher-yielding, higher-coupon bonds in Emerging Markets issued by companies with stronger credit ratings than their Developed Markets counterparts. This supports a portfolio construction approach focused on maximising income, without the need to venture into the riskiest segments of the developed market.”
Aberdeen Investments has been investing in bonds for almost 200 years. With more than 140 fixed income professionals across Europe, the US, and Asia, the firm managed £139 billion in fixed income assets for clients as of 31 December 2025.
Ends
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Notes to editors
About Aberdeen
Aberdeen Investments is a specialist asset manager that focuses on areas where we have both strength and scale across public and private markets, including credit, specialist equities and real assets.
Our teams collaborate across regions, asset classes and specialisms, connecting diverse perspectives and working with clients to identify investment opportunities that suit their needs.
As at 31 December 2025, Aberdeen Investments managed £390.4bn on behalf of clients, including insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, independent wealth managers, pension funds, platforms, banks and family offices.
Fund objective:
The Global Enhanced Yield Fund aims to outperform its Bloomberg Global High Yield Corporate Index
2% Issuer Cap (Hedged to USD) benchmark with a yield greater than the index over rolling three-year periods (before charges).
Risk factors you should consider before investing:
Credit risk - The fund invests in securities which are subject to the risk that the issuer may default on interest or capital payments.
Interest rate risk - The fund price can go up or down daily for a variety of reasons including changes in interest rates, inflation expectations or the perceived credit quality of individual countries or securities.
High Yield Credit risk - The fund invests in high yielding bonds which carry a greater risk of default than those with lower yields.
Emerging Markets risk - The fund invests in emerging market equities and / or bonds. Investing in emerging markets involves a greater risk of loss than investing in more developed markets due to, among other factors, greater political, tax, economic, foreign exchange, liquidity and regulatory risks.
China Bond Connect risk - Investing via Bond Connect involves special considerations and risks, including without limitation a less developed regulatory and legal framework, operational, title and regulatory risks.
Convertible Securities and CoCos risk - Convertible securities are investments that can be changed into another form upon certain triggers. As such, they can exhibit credit, equity and fixed interest risk. Contingent convertible securities (CoCos) are similar to convertible securities but have additional triggers which mean that they are more vulnerable to losses and volatile price movements and hence become less liquid.
Derivatives risk - The use of derivatives carries the risk of reduced liquidity, substantial loss and increased volatility in adverse market conditions, such as a failure amongst market participants. The use of derivatives may result in the fund being leveraged (where market exposure and thus the potential for loss by the fund exceeds the amount it has invested) and in these market conditions the effect of leverage will be to magnify losses.
ESG Investment Risk - Applying ESG and sustainability criteria in the investment process may result in the exclusion of securities within the fund’s benchmark or universe of potential investments. The interpretation of ESG and sustainability criteria is subjective meaning that the fund may invest in companies which similar funds do not (and thus perform differently) and which do not align with the personal views of any individual investor.
The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up and you may get back less than the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future results. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each investor and may be subject to change in the future. We recommend that you seek financial advice prior to making an investment decision.
The details contained here are for information purposes only and should not be considered as an offer, investment recommendation, or solicitation to deal in any investments or funds and does not constitute investment research, investment recommendation or investment advice in any jurisdiction. Any research or analysis used to derive, or in relation to, the above information has been procured by us for our own use, without taking into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any specific investor, and may have been acted on for own purpose. No warranty is given as to the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information contained in this communication and no liability for errors or omissions in such information. Readers must make assessments to the relevance, accuracy and adequacies of the information contained in this communication and make independent investigations, as they may consider necessary or appropriate for the purpose of such assessments. Any opinion or estimate contained in this communication, are made on a general basis. No information contained herein constitutes investment, tax, legal or any other advice, or an invitation to apply for securities in any jurisdiction where such an offer or invitation is unlawful, or in which the person making such an offer is not qualified to do so.
A summary of investor rights can be found in English on our website - https://www.aberdeenplc.com/legal. Any decision to invest should take into account all objectives of the fund. To help you understand each fund and for a full explanation of risks and the overall risk profile of the fund and the shareclasses within it, please refer to the Key Investor Information Documents available in the local language, and Prospectus available in English, which are available on our website www.aberdeeninvestments.com. The Prospectus also contains a glossary of key terms used in this document. The Fund Management company may terminate arrangements for marketing the fund under the Cross-border Distribution Directive denotification process. Th Fund concerns the acquisition of units or shares in a fund, and not in a given underlying asset such as a building or shares of a company
The information contained in this marketing document is intended to be of general interest only and should not be considered as an offer, investment recommendation or solicitation to deal in the shares of any securities or financial instruments. Subscriptions for shares in the fund may only be made on the basis of the latest Prospectus, relevant Key Investor Information Document (KIID) or Key Information Document (KID) as applicable, together with the latest audited annual report (and subsequent unaudited interim report, if published) and in the case of UK investors, the Supplementary Information (SID) for the fund which provides additional information as well as the risks of investing. These may be obtained free of charge from the Fund Management company abrdn Investments Luxembourg S.A. 35a, Avenue J.F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg, on www.aberdeeninvestments.com
Issued by abrdn Investments Luxembourg S.A. 35a, Avenue J.F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg. R.C.S. B120637. Authorised in Luxembourg and regulated by CSSF.
1Source: Aberdeen, ICE index, JP Morgan, Morningstar, gross performance, 31 May 2025, Fixed Income Risk Return Profile covers 15 year period. Past performance does not predict future returns.
2Source: Aberdeen. Returns are the ICE BofA GHY Constrained Index (USD), through June 2025. Past performance does not predict future returns
3Source: Aberdeen, ICE index, JP Morgan, 31 July 2025