Aegon AM launches a fund focused on CoCos and bank subordinated debt
21 SEPT, 2026
By Joanna Piwko from RankiaPro Europe
Aegon Asset Management has launched the fund Aegon Financial Credit Opportunities Fund. It is a strategy aimed at generating a stable flow of income with potential for capital appreciation through equity instruments of global banks and financial institutions.
The fund is managed by Alex Pelteshki, investment manager, and Iain Buckle, head of British fixed income at Aegon AM, with the support of four dedicated credit analysts. The concentrated portfolio of between 40 and 100 instruments will invest at least 65% in contingent convertible bonds (CoCos).
A strategy dedicated to financial entities' credit
The portfolio will include subordinated debt instruments issued by financial institutions worldwide. Although they are relatively complex assets, they usually come from large and consolidated institutions with solid investment-grade issuer ratings.
Although equity instruments usually represent a small allocation within traditional fixed income funds, the team believes they deserve a dedicated strategy for several reasons:
- The high credit quality of the issuers, subject to strict regulation and constant supervision
- Their potential to contribute to income generation and total return
- Differentiated characteristics compared to other asset classes
- Their status as an independent asset class, providing diversification against corporate credit
- A relatively low sensitivity to interest rate movements
A differentiated segment within fixed income
The team will follow its own investment strategy that evaluates the asset class from a different perspective, focused on identifying opportunities that the market overlooks and that offer asymmetric return potential.
Leveraging our experience and our fixed income offering, the logical next step was to create a strategy specifically designed to provide investors with selective exposure to financial entities' credit, a rapidly evolving and increasingly important market segment.
Iain Buckle, head of British fixed income, Aegon Asset Management
Thanks to their differentiated risk characteristics and the potential for income generation they offer, equity instruments represent a very interesting opportunity, especially for investors who want to obtain income regardless of the market environment.
Alex Pelteshki, investment manager, Aegon Asset Management
Aegon Asset Management's investment capabilities span fixed income, real assets, equities and multi-assets, in both public and private markets. The firm has 350 investment professionals and manages assets worth 446 million dollars (as of June 30, 2026), with 1,100 employees spread across Europe, America and Asia.
Aegon AM already presented part of its fixed income offer at the RankiaPro Funds Meeting in Bilbao, where it reviewed its approach to global high yield.
