By investing in a corporate bond fund, you are investing in the corporate bonds of a number of companies (potentially 50 company bonds or more). The fund managers of a corporate bond fund will either buy corporate bonds when they are first issued or on the secondary market. Bonds could be held until redemption or resold on the second hand market. However, whilst they are held within the fund, you will be entitled to receive the interest.
Despite individual corporate bond funds being a fixed interest investment, there is still some risk involved as bond prices can rise and fall and there is a chance that the original capital for a particular issue may be lost if that particular company fails and is the bond issuer is unable to repay the original loan. However, this risk is minimised within a corporate bond fund compared to holding the corporate bonds of a single company, as the fund will hold the bonds of a large number of companies.