Barron’s recently interviewed “old Asia hand” Robert Lloyd George, who runs Lloyd George Advisory, an emerging markets fund manager. The firm currently manages funds with teams in Hong Kong and Mumbai. Robert Lloyd George was previously the chairman and founder of Lloyd George Management, which managed up to US$17.7bn prior to its sale to BMO in 2011.

Some highlights below (paraphrased):

• Cash holdings are now up to ~35% of the portfolio. He has “taken a fairly strong view, [but is] convinced we’re going to run into some kind of trouble probably within the next month.” So far, “the market’s kept going up, but [he] doesn’t mind being a month or two early.”
• His fund has trimmed its position in both Tencent and Alibaba as their valuations have moved up (weighting is down from 5% to 1% of the portfolio). “President Xi Jinping has [also] been fiercely cracking down on internet freedom,” which is likely to affect Chinese technology stocks.
• He is more positive in his outlook for the Chinese travel sector. His picks there include China Lodging Group and TravelSky Technology and he says any pull-back in the two stocks could be a buying opportunity. He is also positive on India’s private sector lenders, including HDFC Bank.