Lazard Asset Management LLC (LAM) today announced the launch of the Lazard Emerging Markets Income Portfolio (NASDAQ: Institutional: LEIIX; Open: LEIOX).

The Lazard Emerging Markets Income Portfolio (the “Portfolio”) seeks to deliver capital appreciation and income from exposure to emerging-market currency and local debt markets, with a short duration bias. The Portfolio is designed to have low correlation to broad equity and debt indices, which can provide favorable diversification benefits for investors, while its limited duration and credit risk profile distinguish its sources of returns from traditional fixed income assets. The identification of idiosyncratic macro-economic factors, policy variables, and market inefficiencies form the crux of the team's fundamentally-based approach. The Portfolio is based on an existing strategy that the team has managed since inception in 2011.

The Portfolio is co-managed by Ardra Belitz and Ganesh Ramachandran, Managing Directors and Portfolio Managers on Lazard’s Emerging Income team, which manages short duration emerging markets local currency and debt strategies. Ardra and Ganesh have over thirty years of combined experience in the asset class. We believe this experience provides a unique advantage in their ability to identify well-compensated opportunities from a highly diverse, lowly correlated local market universe and produce superior risk-adjusted results.

“The Emerging Markets Income Portfolio offers an attractive solution for investors seeking yield-based total return from non-traditional sources, while the strategy's low volatility mitigates entry-point risk relative to other emerging market asset classes,” said Ardra Belitz.

“The Portfolio has the potential to benefit in a period of rising interest rates as global demand conditions improve, given the favorable implications for emerging market local currency valuations following sizeable depreciation in recent years,” added Ganesh Ramachandran.

The Emerging Income team leverages Lazard’s deep emerging market resources across multiple disciplines, including over 60 investment professionals dedicated to emerging markets. As of March 31, 2014, LAM manages over $60 billion in emerging markets equity and debt assets on behalf of clients globally.

About Lazard

Lazard, one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms, operates from 41 cities across 26 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America. With origins dating to 1848, the firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising, and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments, and individuals.

An indirect subsidiary of Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ), LAM offers a range of equity, fixed-income, and alternative investment products worldwide. As of March 31, 2014, LAM and affiliated asset management companies in the Lazard Group managed $189 billion worth of client assets. For more information about LAM, please visit www.Lazardnet.com.

The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money. Non-domestic securities carry special risks, such as exposure to less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability, a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity. Certain investment techniques required to access certain emerging-market currencies, such as swaps, forwards, structured notes, and loans of portfolio securities, involve risk that the counterparty to such instruments or transactions will become insolvent or otherwise default on its obligation to perform as agreed.

The Portfolio invests primarily in short-term emerging-market local currencies and debt positions. The Portfolio will generally invest in currency and debt investments denominated in emerging-market currencies and will maintain significant exposure to such local currencies. Investments denominated in currencies other than US dollars may experience a decline in value, in US dollar terms, due solely to fluctuation in currency exchange rates. Currency investments could be adversely affected by delays in, or refusal to grant, repatriation of funds or conversion of emerging-market currencies. The lack of a readily available market and the size of certain debt offerings of emerging market issuers may limit the ability of the Portfolio to sell certain securities at the time and price it would like.

The securities markets of emerging-market countries can be extremely volatile. The Portfolio’s performance will be influenced by political, social, and economic factors affecting emerging-market countries and companies in emerging-market countries. Emerging-market countries can generally have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, and political systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries.

Forward currency transactions and other derivatives transactions, including those entered into for hedging purposes, may reduce returns or increase volatility. Derivatives can also be illiquid and highly sensitive to changes in the related currency, security or securities. As such, a small investment in certain derivatives could have a potentially large impact on the Portfolio’s performance.

An investment in bonds carries risk. If interest rates rise, bond prices usually decline. The longer a bond’s maturity, the greater the impact a change in interest rates can have on its price. Bonds also carry the risk of default, which is the risk that the issuer is unable to make further income and principal payments. High yield securities (also referred to as “junk bonds”) inherently have a higher degree of market risk, default risk, and credit risk.

The Portfolio is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Act of 1940. The Portfolio’s net asset value may be more vulnerable to changes in the market value of a single issuer or group of issuers and may be relatively more susceptible to adverse effects from any single corporate, industry, economic, market, political or regulatory occurrence than if the Portfolio’s investments consisted of securities issued by a larger number of issuers.

Please consider a fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing. For more complete information about The Lazard Funds, Inc. and current performance, you may obtain a prospectus or summary prospectus by calling 800-823-6300 or going to www.LazardNet.com. Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before you invest. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other information about the Portfolio and The Lazard Funds that may not be detailed in this document. The Lazard Funds are distributed by Lazard Asset Management Securities LLC.