The National Bank of Abu Dhabi, NBAD, has launched the West-East Corridor, WEC, Africa and Asia Frontier Market Fund, a foreign fund domiciled in Ireland that will offer investors attractive returns by investing in a diversified portfolio of Africa and Asia market equities.

Alex Thursby, NBAD's Group Chief Executive Officer, said, "NBAD's WEC Africa and Asia Frontier Market Fund complements the bank's existing suite of investment product offerings. It is in line with NBAD's Global Asset Management strategy to expand our presence in the West-East Corridor and enable investors to tap into the best opportunities across these markets."

Claude-Henri Chavanon, Managing Director and Head of Global Asset Management at NBAD, said, "We have been witnessing demand from investors to add West-East Corridor markets to their portfolios, and we want to offer investors a product which allows them to capture higher returns, while taking measured levels of risk. With the newly launched fund, our clients have access to frontier markets. These markets have a low correlation with emerging and developed markets and provide investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolios and to potentially offset downturns in other markets."

NBAD's WEC Africa and Asia Frontier Market Fund is an open-ended, actively managed product. It is open to institutional and individual retail investors.

The fund invests in liquid large and mid-cap company stocks in select Frontier Markets, excluding GCC. It provides investors with easy access to otherwise difficult-to-access markets and the ability to tap into strong, growth companies which offer capital appreciation potential and have the potential to deliver attractive and consistent levels of income. The fund will invest in the bourses of Kenya, Tunisia, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Jordan, Vietnam, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

NBAD's Global Asset Management manages assets in excess of Dh10 billion, making it one of the largest in the UAE.
Source: WAM