Aberdeen Global Income Fund board OKs amending investment limitations

By Wendy Van Sickle

Columbus, Ohio, June 16 – Aberdeen Global Income Fund, Inc.’s board of directors approved amendments to three non-fundamental investment limitations of the fund on Wednesday, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The amendments will allow the fund to increase its Asian local currency exposure and facilitate exposure to the global high-yield asset class, according to the filing.

The fund may begin modifying its portfolio to use the expanded investment authority after July 18 and will change its benchmark, effective Nov. 1.

The fund’s principal investment objective is to provide high current income by investing primarily in fixed income securities. As a secondary investment objective, the fund seeks capital appreciation, but only when consistent with its principal investment objective. The fund usually invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in debt securities.

Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd., the fund’s investment manager, along with its affiliates Aberdeen Asset Management Ltd. and Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd., the fund’s investment adviser and sub-adviser, respectively, believe an increase in the fund’s Asian local currency exposure and exposure to the global high-yield asset class will help generate higher income.

The board of directors approved the following three amendments to the fund’s non-fundamental investment limitations:

• Up to 75%, from 40% currently, of the fund’s investments may be rated, at the time of investment, below investment-grade, or if unrated, judged by the investment manager to be of equivalent quality;

• Up to 10%, from 0% currently, of the fund’s investments may be rated, at the time of investment, at distressed-debt levels or below, or if unrated, judged by the investment manager to be of equivalent quality; and

• The maximum exposure to issuers in any one developed market is limited to 25% of the fund’s total assets; provided, however, that up to 40% may be invested in issuers in the U.S., up from the current limitation of 25% for U.S. issuers.

The fund’s ability to have unlimited exposure to the U.S. dollar remains unchanged.

Changes to the fund’s benchmark, effective Nov. 1, will include:

• Reducing the weight of the BofA Merrill Lynch All Maturity Australia Government index to 10% from 20% and that of the BofA Merrill Lynch New Zealand Government index to 5% from 15%;

• Adding the BofA Merrill Lynch Global High Yield Constrained index with a 25% weight, the JPMorgan EMBI Global Diversified index with a 35% weight and the Markit iBoxx Asia ex-Japan Sovereign index with a 25% weight; and

• Eliminating the BofA Merrill Lynch UK Government Bonds index, the BofA Merrill Lynch Canadian Government Bonds index and the BofA Merrill Lynch Global Emerging Markets Sovereign Bond BBB-B index.

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