Columbia Threadneedle launches CT (Lux) European Corporate Bond Plus, with up to 30% flexibility in high yield
23 SEPT, 2026
By Joanna Piwko from RankiaPro Europe
Columbia Threadneedle Investments is widening its European credit offering with a strategy that pairs investment grade corporate bonds with the flexibility to invest up to 30% in high yield. The firm launched the CT (Lux) European Corporate Bond Plus on 22 September 2026, an actively managed fund run by Portfolio Manager Christopher Hult.
The fund was created through the conversion of the CT (Lux) European Strategic Bond.
An investment grade core with a high yield sleeve
The fund will invest mainly in euro-denominated investment grade corporate bonds issued by European companies or by companies with significant operations in Europe. It can also allocate up to 30% of the portfolio to sub-investment grade securities when they offer attractive risk/reward opportunities.
This broader investment universe allows the team to draw on multiple sources of alpha through fundamental bond selection and dynamic allocation. The objective is to deliver income and attractive total returns across different market environments, responding to growing investor demand for credit strategies able to capture opportunities in a wide universe.
"Investors continue to find the all-in yield offered by European corporate bonds attractive, while tightening credit spreads make rigorous credit analysis and disciplined portfolio construction increasingly important. The European Corporate Bond Plus strategy has been designed to make full use of our credit capabilities. By combining in-depth fundamental research with the flexibility to allocate between investment grade and high yield bonds, we believe we can offer investors a differentiated source of return while maintaining a strong focus on risk management."
Christopher Hult, Portfolio Manager, Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Bottom-up research and integrated risk management
The strategy combines complementary sources of alpha: bottom-up issuer and security selection, alongside dynamic allocation between investment grade and high yield credit. Independent, bottom-up credit research is at the core of the process, analysing valuations, credit quality and downside risk at issuer and security level.
Risk management is fully integrated into portfolio construction. Position sizes are directly linked to conviction levels, and the team constantly monitors exposures to duration, spread, sectors, countries and high yield.
Article 8 fund benchmarked to the iBoxx Euro Corporate Bond Index
The fund is classified under Article 8 of the SFDR and its benchmark is the iBoxx Euro Corporate Bond Index. While the strategy will focus on high-quality European corporate bonds, the mandate retains a degree of flexibility, allowing the team to hold up to 30% of the portfolio in high yield.
The launch follows another repositioning in the firm's fixed income range earlier this month, when the CT (Lux) Flexible Asian Bond became the CT (Lux) Global Aggregate Bond.
