The ABN Amro Emerging Markets Debt fund will focus on event-driven
trading in liquid, hard currency, sovereign debt in the emerging
markets. “We have enjoyed a great deal of success to date in trading
around important events,” said Raphael Kassin, the fund’s manager. “We
are never neutral on any one country. We are paid to make decisions and
we therefore either like a country, or we don’t.”
Mr Kassin, described by colleagues as an “ex-proprietary trader who
runs money in his own particular style; not a benchmark hugger,” sees
potential in Venezuela. He said markets like Russia and Brazil, where
governments are getting to grips with their economies, are becoming “a
little too expensive”.
Mr Kassin’s team already manages a successful E700m emerging markets
bond fund, aimed at institutions. The new product, with a target annual
return of 15 per cent, has been adapted as a long-short version of the
existing fund. In line with the expected results of the internal
review, it will be aimed at third-party distributors, as well as the
powerful internal channel.







