As the renminbi grows as an international currency, Pictet Asset Management has widened its debt offering to tap Chinese local currency debt.

Pictet Asset Management, part of Swiss private bank Pictet, has widened its $20.4 billion global emerging market debt offering with the launch of the Pictet-Chinese Local Currency Debt Fund.

The fund takes the form of a Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS-compliant fund that is a compartment of the Pictet Luxembourg SICAV. The fund has already seen considerable investor demand and has reached its initial limit, set at $20 million, the firm said in a statement. Further capacity will be made available later, it added.

The fund is managed by Cary Yeung, who joined Pictet AM last year from Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong. Based in Hong Kong, Yeung is supported locally by Jennifer Chang, a senior credit analyst, and Echo Chen, a specialist trader in Chinese debt.

“In the current low-yield environment, onshore renminbi bonds offer investors an attractive yield as well as diversification and exposure to a currency with potential for appreciation,” Yeung said.

Pictet AM was granted an RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor licence by Chinese regulators last year; the RQFII licence allows access to the Chinese onshore equity and fixed income securities markets, including the A-share equity and onshore bond markets.

An application has also been made to the People's Bank of China for access to the Chinese interbank bond market, Pictet AM said.

The fund is currently registered in the following countries: the UK, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Cyprus, Finland, Greece and Portugal. It will be available in other countries soon, the firm said.