Ricky Singh

Ricky Singh (33) is a Senior Investment Manager and has worked for PGGM Investments since 2017. He has obtained a Master of Business Administration with a specialisation in Finance and is part of the Emerging Markets Credit team. Ricky: ‘My team is part of the new Credit cluster and invests in debt instruments – primarily bonds – issued by companies operating in emerging markets across the globe, so think of countries like Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia.’ 
 
Credit analysis & portfolio management

In his day-to-day work, Ricky is assigned two primary tasks: fundamental credit analysis of companies and portfolio management. He conducts research to monitor current portfolio holdings and identify potential new investment opportunities. Ricky says: ‘Our ideas are then considered in a broader portfolio context, for example based on our macroeconomic views on various emerging market countries.’

Issuance of sustainable bonds

According to Ricky, a key development in the market has been a recent surge in the issuance of bonds focused on sustainability. He continues: ‘This is especially interesting in an emerging markets context, as PGGM can contribute by appropriately investing our capital. An example is the energy transition, where over the past two years the portfolio has invested nearly $200 million to finance renewable energy projects in countries like Panama and India.’

Effects of low interest rates and political risk

In his asset class, some of the most important risks that Ricky and his team have to anticipate are the effects of low interest rates and (political) developments in emerging countries. Ricky argues: ‘Low interest rates are encouraging investors to move lower down the credit spectrum in the search for yield. This means more and more companies are tapping into bond markets which ordinarily would not have been able to. In our asset class much of the relative performance is generated by avoiding companies that get into trouble, so fundamental analysis becomes more valuable in such instances. Also, political risk is a noteworthy factor and this makes it important to keep a close eye on what is happening more broadly in a country.’