Evli Bank Plc: Evli's new Nordic Corporate Bond fu

EVLI BANK PLC PRESS RELEASE November 1, 2017 AT 10.15 AM

Evli Fund Management company has renewed the name and strategy of its Alfa bond fund to Evli Nordic Corporate Bond. The fund focuses on Nordic rated investment grade and high yield bonds and unrated corporate bonds.

The background research shows that the Nordic corporate bond market is already a sizable market of a value of EUR 150 billion and is growing. The unique combination of strong fundamentals and attractive valuation is luring more and more non-Nordic investors. However, most European investors still invest only in officially rated corporate bonds in these markets, although the track record shows that Nordic smaller unrated companies typically yield more than similar credit risk profiles. These smaller unrated companies represent over 70 percent of the Nordic issuers.

"The Nordic bond market offers a vast variety of sectors, local mix and structure. With the Nordic Corporate Bond fund, we can focus on the potential both the rated and unrated Nordic companies offer. In addition, Evli is in a prime position to offer investors diversification and additional return potential to their bond portfolio. We have close to 20 years of investment experience in Nordic corporate bonds and an expert team of portfolio managers analyzing and buying Nordic credit" Kim Pessala, managing director of Evli Fund Management Company, comments.

The objective of the Nordic Corporate Bond fund is to offer an actively managed fund with high, stable return and European off-index corporate bond investments from quality issuers to investors interested in the Nordic market. The fund consists of 100 percent corporate bonds from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Additional information:

Kim Pessala, Managing Director, Evli Fund Management Company Ltd, tel. +358 40 523 3797

Evli Bank Plc

Evli is a bank specialized in investments that helps institutions, corporations and private persons increase their wealth. The product and service offering includes mutual funds, asset management and capital markets services, alternative investment products, investment research, administration of incentive programs and Corporate Finance services. The company also offers banking services that support clients' investment operations. Evli is the highest ranked and most used institutional asset manager in Finland*.

Evli has a total of EUR 11.1 billion in client assets under management (net 9/2017). The Evli Group's equity capital totals EUR 66,5 million and its BIS capital adequacy ratio is 14.1 percent (September 30, 2017). The company has more than 200 employees. Evli Bank Plc's B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.

* TNS Sifo Prospera External Asset Management Finland 2017, SFR Scandinavian Financial Research Institutional Investment Services, Finland 2017 (shared first place).

Distribution: Main media, www.evli.com