Aegon has confirmed it is to begin buying US housing market distressed assets for its on and offshore strategic bond funds.

Fixed income manager Philip Milburn confirmed that the strategy is now under way in an exclusive interview with What Investment for next month’s higher yield bond fund survey.

Milburn said the fund house has been looking at ways of maximising returns for investors through alternative strategies, although full details are being kept under wraps until later in the month.

He said, ‘This is something we are looking at which is a bit different at the moment. If you buy at the top of the capital structure, what you actually want is for foreclosures to accelerate and not decelerate because you actually get paid first.’

Financial planners have said there has been an increasing trend of managers looking at higher risk plays in order to justify returns which have broadly been well-received.

However, some financial advisers have said that the exact percentage of the portfolio which adopts these new strategies should remain negligible.

Patrick Connolly of financial planning group AWD Chase de Vere, said it is well known that fixed interest managers are moving away from conventional investment grade assets.

He explained, ‘That is great as long as it is done in the right proportions so investors are not exposed to more risk than they would normally be comfortable with.

‘If there are opportunities that can be exploited, that is fine, as long as the fund manager is not taking bets that are too big in order to do that.’

Connolly said Chase de Vere is already seeing that investors are coming out of investment grade bonds and moving into strategic bonds and expecting higher returns as a result – something which is adding to the pressure for managers.

He added, ‘There remains an education piece for customers and advisers. There needs to be an understanding that one strategic bond fund is not the same as another.

‘Strategic bonds are very different to investment grade funds where one is broadly similar to another.’