Fund Evaluator:

William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 Overview

William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 (WEDRX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Emerging Markets Bond fund. William Blair launched the fund in 2021.

The investment seeks to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns relative to the fund's benchmark. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in debt instruments that are economically tied to emerging market countries, which may be represented by forwards or derivatives such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements. It invests a significant portion of its assets in sovereign debt securities and debt securities of quasi-sovereign issuers. The fund may invest in securities of any maturity. It is non-diversified.

About William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 (WEDRX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.29 years: Marcelo Assalin (2021), Marco Ruijer (2021), Jared Lou (2024). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg Global Aggregate TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and JPM EMBI Global Diversified TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 has 267 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 15.7% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 has 133.8% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 92.2% (-41.7% domestic bond, 133.8% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 has 7.8% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $29 million in total assets, which is below the $331 million average for the Emerging Markets Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

WEDRX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Emerging Markets Bond category. William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 has an expense ratio of 0.65%, which is 35% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 has a portfolio turnover rate of 120%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 83% for the Emerging Markets Bond category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 returned 0.7%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Emerging Markets Bond category had an average return of 0.8%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 has a trailing yield of 6.66%, which is above the 5.95% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

William Blair Emerging Markets Debt R6 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 4.9%, 1.6 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 10.9% over the past year (grade of A), 12.6% over the past three years (grade of A) and 4.0% per year over the past five years (grade of A).

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