Fears that corporate bonds have entered a bubble are overplayed, a fixed-income manager said on Tuesday.
"I don't personally believe we're in a corporate bond bubble," Stephen Smith, managing director and portfolio manager at Brandywine Global, told CNBC's "Power Lunch."
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On Tuesday, pharmaceutical company Actavis launched a $21 billion corporate bond deal, the second-largest ever, according to Thomson Reuters unit IFR. Exxon Mobil planned to sell $7 billion in corporate bonds on Tuesday.
The issuance volume has raised concerns of a bubble.
Smith, who runs the Legg Mason Brandywine Global Fixed Income Fund, attributed that to "where you are in the business cycle."
The United States is still in a recovery, he said. Smith contended that an expensive corporate bond environment will linger until the Federal Reserve starts to hike interest rates from near-zero levels.
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While he doesn't feel that a bond bubble exists, Smith finds bonds outside the U.S. more appealing than domestic plays. Countries including Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia currently have "attractive interest rates," he said.
—Reuters contributed to this report.