Investment risk: The Fund’s investment portfolio may fall in value due to any of the key risk factors below and therefore your investment in the Fund may suffer losses. The Fund is an investment fund and is not in the nature of a bank deposit. There is no guarantee of repayment of principal. Risks associated with sub-investment grade and/or unrated debt securities: The Fund may invest in debt securities rated sub-investment grade and/or unrated which carry greater credit risk or risk of loss of principal and interest due to an issuer’s inability to meet principal and interest obligations than higher-rated debt securities. Sub-investment grade debt securities and unrated debt securities may also be subject to greater price volatility due to such factors as specific corporate developments, interest rate sensitivity, negative perceptions of the financial markets generally and less secondary market liquidity. The secondary market for such instruments is also subject to lower liquidity, and is more volatile than, the secondary market for higher-rated instruments. Credit Risk: The Fund is exposed to the credit/default risk of issuers of debt securities that the Fund may invest in. Interest rate risk: Investment in the Fund is subject to interest rate risk. In general, the prices of debt securities rise when interest rates fall, whilst their prices fall when interest rates rise. Volatility and liquidity risk: The debt instruments in which the Fund invests may not be traded on an active secondary market. Debt instruments in certain markets may be subject to higher volatility and lower liquidity when compared to more developed markets. The prices of securities traded in such markets may be subject to fluctuations. The bid and offer spreads of the price of such securities may be large and the Fund may incur significant trading costs. 6. Risk associated with investment in specific countries or regions The Fund’s investment may be concentrated in specific countries or regions. In such event, the value of the Fund may be more volatile than that of a fund having a more diverse portfolio of investments. The value of the Fund may be more susceptible to adverse economic, political, policy, foreign exchange, liquidity, tax, legal or regulatory event affecting the specific country or region market. In light of ongoing concerns on the sovereign debt risk of certain countries within the Eurozone, the Fund’s investments in the region may be subject to higher volatility, liquidity, currency and default risks. Any adverse events, such as credit downgrade of a sovereign or exit of EU members from the Eurozone, may have a negative impact on the value of the Fund. Downgrading risk: The credit rating of a debt instrument or its issuer may subsequently be downgraded. In the event of such downgrading, the value of the Fund may be adversely affected. The Investment Manager may or may not be able to dispose of the debt instruments that are being downgraded. Sovereign debt risk: The Fund’s investment in securities issued or guaranteed by governments may be exposed to political, social and economic risks. In adverse situations, the sovereign issuers may not be able or willing to repay the principal and/or interest when due or may request the Fund to participate in restructuring such debts. The Fund may suffer significant losses when there is a default of sovereign debt issuers. Valuation risk: Valuation of the Fund’s investments may involve uncertainties and judgmental determinations. If such valuation turns out to be incorrect, this may affect the net asset value calculation of the Fund. Credit rating risk: Credit ratings assigned by rating agencies are also subject to limitations and do not guarantee the creditworthiness of the security and/or issuer at all times. Risks of ESG integration and promotion of ESG characteristics: The Investment Manager integrates ESG information into the investment process. In addition to ESG integration, the Fund also promotes ESG factors or characteristics within their investment policies. The use of ESG information may affect the Fund’s investment performance and, as such, may perform differently compared to similar collective investment schemes. The Investment Manager may use third-party resources that provide ESG information. In evaluating an investment, the Investment Manager is dependent upon such information and data, which may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable. There is no guarantee that such ESG information or the way in which it is implemented is fair, correct, accurate, reasonable or complete. Investor and societal sentiment towards ESG concepts and topics may change over time, which may affect the demand for ESG-based investments and may also affect their (and, in turn, the Fund’s) performance. Risks associated with FDIs and liquidity: The Fund may have exposure to FDIs for investment purposes or for efficient portfolio management. Risks associated with FDIs include counterparty/credit risk, liquidity risk, valuation risk, volatility risk and over-the-counter transaction risk. The leverage element/component of a FDI can result in a loss significantly greater than the amount invested in the FDI by the Fund. Exposure to FDIs may lead to a high risk of significant loss by the Fund. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the Fund’s use of FDIs for hedging will be entirely effective and in adverse situations, where the use of FDIs becomes ineffective, the Fund may suffer significant loss. There may not be active market for certain FDIs so that the purchase and sale of holding may take longer. The Fund may also encounter difficulties in disposing of FDIs at their fair market price. Counterparty risk: Counterparty risk is the risk that an organization does not pay out on a bond or other trade or transaction when it is supposed to. If a counterparty fails to honour its obligations in a timely manner and the Fund is delayed or prevented from exercising its rights with respect to the investments in its portfolio, it may experience a decline in the value of its position, lose income and/or incur costs associated with asserting its rights. Currency risk: The underlying investments of the Fund may be denominated in currencies other than the base currency of the Fund. Also, a class of units of the Fund may be designated in a currency other than the base Currency of the Fund. The net asset value of the Fund may be affected unfavourably by fluctuations in the exchange rates between these currencies and the base currency and by changes in exchange rate controls. Risk associated with collateralised and/or securitised products (such as covered bonds, ABS, CMBS and RMBS) : The Fund may invest up to 25% of its net asset value in collateralised and/or securitised products such as covered bonds, ABS, CMBS and RMBS which may be highly illiquid and prone to substantial price volatility. These instruments may be subject to greater credit, liquidity and interest rate risk compared to other debt securities. They are often exposed to extension and prepayment risks and risks that the payment obligations relating to the underlying assets are not met, which may adversely impact the returns of the securities. Charges deducted from capital/risks relating to distribution: The Fund normally pays its management fee and other fees and expenses out of income (in accordance with Irish accounting guidelines). However, where insufficient income is available, the Manager may pay some or all of its management fee and other fees and expenses out of capital and out of both realised and unrealised capital gains less realised and unrealised capital losses. Where the management fee and other fees and expenses are deducted from capital rather than income generated, this may constrain growth and could erode capital. The Fund may pay dividends out of net income, realised and unrealised capital gains (less realised and unrealised loss), capital and/or gross investment income while charging some or all fees and expenses out of capital (which would result in an increase in distributable income for the payment of dividends by the Fund and therefore, the Fund may effectively pay dividends out of capital). Payment of distributions out of unrealised capital gains amount to distribution out of capital under Hong Kong regulatory disclosure requirements. Payment of distributions out of capital, and/or out of unrealised capital gains (which mean effectively paying dividends out of capital), and/or effectively out of the Fund’s capital amount to a return or withdrawal of part of an investor’s original investment or from any capital gains attributable to that original investment and may result in an immediate reduction of the Fund’s net asset value per unit. The distribution amount and net asset value of the hedged class may be adversely affected by differences in the interest rates of the reference currency of the hedged class and the Fund’s base currency, resulting in an increase in the amount of distribution that is paid out of capital and hence a greater erosion of capital than other non-hedged classes. Risks associated with instruments with loss-absorption features: Debt instruments with loss-absorption features are subject to greater risks when compared to traditional debt instruments as such instruments are typically subject to the risk of being written down or converted to ordinary shares upon the occurrence of certain trigger event(s) (e.g. when the issuer is near or at the point of non-viability or when the issuer’s capital ratio falls to a specified level), which are likely to be outside of the issuer’s control. Such trigger events are complex and difficult to predict and may result in a significant or total reduction in the value of such instruments. In the event of the activation of a trigger, there may be potential price contagion and volatility to the entire asset class. Debt instruments with loss-absorption features may also be exposed to liquidity, valuation and sector concentration risk. The Fund may invest in CoCos which are highly complex and are of high risk. Upon the occurrence of the trigger event, CoCos may be converted into shares of the issuer (potentially at a discounted price), or may be subject to the permanent write-down to zero. Coupon payments on CoCos are discretionary and may be cancelled by the issuer at any point, for any reason, and for any length of time. The Fund may invest in senior non-preferred debts (e.g. Tier 3 securities). While these instruments are generally senior to subordinated debts, they may be subject to write-down upon the occurrence of a trigger event and will no longer fall under the creditor ranking hierarchy of the issuer. This may result in total loss of principal invested. RMB classes related risk: RMB is currently not freely convertible and is subject to exchange controls and restrictions. Non-RMB based investors are exposed to foreign exchange risk and there is no guarantee that the value of RMB against the investors’ base currencies (for example USD) will not depreciate. Any depreciation of RMB could adversely affect the value of investor’s investment in the Fund. Although offshore RMB (CNH) and onshore RMB (CNY) are the same currency, they trade at different rates. Any divergence between CNH and CNY may adversely impact investors. Non-RMB based investors in unit classes denominated in RMB may have to convert USD or other currency(ies) into RMB when investing in unit classes denominated in RMB and subsequently convert the RMB redemption proceeds and/or dividend payment (if any) back to USD or such other currency(ies). Investors will incur currency conversion costs and you may suffer losses depending on the exchange rate movements of RMB relative to USD or such other currencies. Under exceptional circumstances, payment of realisation proceeds and/or dividend payment from underlying investments to the Fund in RMB may be delayed due to the exchange controls and restrictions applicable to RMB. |