Citywire Nordics Retreat 2026

Investment success in emerging markets debt is built through a series of deliberate choices. EMsights Capital Group will explore how decisions throughout the investment process, from broadening the opportunity set beyond traditional benchmarks in the asset class, isolating emerging markets risk factors while mitigating unintended developed markets exposures, continually expanding market access across local markets and maintaining strict capacity discipline can enhance risk-adjusted return potential and add a differentiated source of alpha generation to a broader portfolio.

Workshop Objectives: By examining the cumulative impact of these choices, attendees will gain a framework for thinking beyond conventional approaches to EM debt and better understand EMsights’ unique philosophy and process.

Company Profile: Artisan Partners was founded in 1994 with the objective of producing high value added and differentiated investment outcomes for institutional investors, through identifying, attracting and retaining high caliber talent in long term asset classes. We provide the resources of a full-scale, global firm paired with the independence of a boutique to each of our autonomous investment teams, who have the freedom to execute its own process based on its original research and creative perspectives. While our teams differ across market capitalizations, geographical regions, investment styles and product offerings, they are all highly incentivized to deliver long-term value for our clients.

Why might a China-based investor bring a differentiated perspective to global growth? The advantage lies not in geographic exposure, but in the research system behind investment decisions. China and the Asian region sit at the centre of many semiconductor, hardware, industrial and consumer supply chains, giving local teams proximity to suppliers, competitors, customers and manufacturing signals. When this information is combined with global company analysis, investors can verify demand, capacity, inventories, product cycles and competitive positioning from multiple directions. The result is a cross-market approach that compares companies within global industries rather than through traditional regional silos. This workshop examines how Asian industrial insight, independent judgement and flexible portfolio construction may create a distinct source of global growth equity alpha.

Workshop Objectives: Understand how E Fund exports China and Asian research capabilities into global portfolios, generating differentiated growth insights through cross-market comparison, supply-chain proximity and distinct portfolio construction.

Company Profile: E Fund Management (Hong Kong) Co., Limited is the offshore arm of E Fund Management Co., Ltd., established in 2001 and the largest mutual fund manager in China, with over USD 638 billion under management across the group as of 31 March 2026. E Fund serves individual and institutional clients worldwide, including central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and financial institutions. E Fund HK was among the first wholly-owned offshore subsidiaries established by a Chinese asset manager and holds QFII, RQFII and Stock Connect qualifications. It gives global investors access to E Fund's capabilities across active equity, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives, backed by an award-winning research platform.

With over a decade of track record and €3 billion AuM, OptoFlex and US EquityFlex are engineered to improve the performance of bond and equity portfolios. These liquid, UCITS-compliant funds focus on systematically capturing risk premiums to act as reliable yield enhancers in your strategic allocation.
In this session, our portfolio managers will show how these rule-based strategies generate consistent additional returns. A key advantage: thanks to an integrated tail hedge, the strategies provide extra stability precisely when markets face extreme stress.
Join us to discover how you can achieve reliable excess returns while maintaining a robust safety net for your portfolio’s most challenging moments.

Workshop Objectives: Learn how to:
•    Improve performance by systematically capturing risk premiums.
•    Remove guesswork with objective, forecast-free strategies.
•    Ensure flexibility through high liquidity and simple structures.
•    Protect capital during extreme crises with an integrated safety net.

Company Profile: FERI was founded in Bad Homburg in 1987 as Germany’s first multi-family office.
Since then, we have grown to become one of the leading multi-asset managers in the German-speaking world, with more than €60 billion of assets under management and over 280 employees at eight locations. We offer private and institutional investors something unique: first-class asset management based on our own in-depth research.
At the heart of our investment approach lies a deep commitment to alternative asset classes. Our Volatility Strategies Team is widely regarded as one of Germany’s premier units, having defined the standards for excellence and innovation within the sector.

For income-oriented investors, the First Trust Vest S&P 500® Dividend Aristocrats Target Income UCITS ETF ("KNG ") may provide an intriguing opportunity to generate 8% over the dividend yield of the S&P 500 —turning volatility into attractive consistent current income potential—while also maintaining equity market exposure to a portfolio of elite dividend-growing companies. This novel approach to the traditional covered call strategy has been active since 2018, with more than $3.4bn in assets under management globally.

Workshop Objectives:

•    Highlight the challenges faced by income-orientated investors in today’s market environment.
•    Demonstrate the drawbacks of traditional approaches to covered call strategies and how KNG, our target income solution, has the potential to provide consistent income while maintaining equity market exposure.
•    Explore the compelling tactical case for these solutions in today’s challenging market environment.

Company Profile: First Trust is a privately owned U.S. based financial services firm established in 1991. Our mission and approach are simple. We aim to offer investors a better way to invest by providing transparent and innovative solutions - through knowing what we own, investing for the long term, employing discipline and rebalancing our portfolios. 
 
These core principles are taken into consideration in all aspects of our business and are the building blocks of our reputation. It is through these principles that First Trust’s specialist investment managers apply a robust and disciplined approach to a range of methodologies. We have a strong track record in providing a variety of rules-based, thematic and actively managed strategies investing across a range of equities, fixed income and alternatives.