A sober tone from Claire Barnes in her first quarter letter to investors. She writes that “more regional companies [are suffering] from capricious action by governments” and her impression is that these incidents are becoming more frequent. She cites recent examples in both India (a government ban on alcohol near highways) and Thailand (closure of Kingsgate’s Chatree gold mine). Last year, one […]
Category: Market Updates
CFA’s Paul Smith On The Future Of Finance
Paul Smith, the CEO of the CFA Institute, was on CNBC this week to briefly discuss the future of the investment profession. Here is the link to the video. Below are some highlights from his interview: Majority of CFA members feel that the finance industry is at an inflection point Structural headwinds include regulation, demographics and the rise […]
Matthews Asia: Outlook for Japanese Equities
Interesting piece published recently by Matthews Asia on their outlook for Japanese equities in 2017. Similar in tone to Peter Tasker’s (shorter) article on the brightening message from small cap Japan. Some excerpts / highlights from the report, paraphrased: Number of structural factors supporting Japanese equities in 2017 Improved Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMI), accelerating wage growth and the Japanese government’s decision […]
Cheah Cheng Hye On Star Media
Cheah Cheng Hye, the founder of Value Partners, was a recent guest on Star Media’s Power Talks series. The event was held in Malaysia. He gave a speech about some of the lessons he has learnt over the course of his ~46 year career as both a journalist and an investment manager. He also answered audience questions on a wide range […]
Tim Moe Upgrades His China Call
Tim Moe, Goldman’s chief Asia-Pacific strategist, was on Bloomberg recently to discuss the firm’s outlook for the region and the Chinese markets. Some highlights below: Recent upgrade of China is in the context of the overall regional outlook Three key issues likely to be determining equity market performance over the next few quarters First, reflation dynamic is […]
FSS Asia Investor Update (Jan ’17)
First State Stewart (FSS) Asia is an independent investment management team within First State Investments. The team manages ~US$21bn across a range of Asia Pacific equity strategies on behalf of both institutional and wholesale clients. One of their fund offerings is the listed Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust, which I have profiled previously. The group recently published a […]
Highlights From OAM’s 2016 Letter
The 2016 annual letter for Overseas Asset Management’s Asian Recovery Fund is out. You can access and download it directly from their website. The fund of funds vehicle was founded in 1998 by Desmond Kinch and its NAV has compounded at 13.5% per annum since inception (vs. 5.2% per annum for the MSCI Asia ex-Japan). OAM has been […]
Coupland Cardiff: December Updates
Coupland Cardiff’s three open-ended Asian funds (Asian Evolution, Asia Alpha and Asia Focus) recently released their investor letters for December 2016. For more background, please see my post here. The full letters are available for download on the firm’s website, but below are some highlights: CC Asian Evolution Portfolio updates: Fund was up 3.2% for the year vs. a 5.4% […]
Perinvest: October Update
Perinvest is an independent manager focused on alternative strategies. The firm was founded by Jean Perrette (he was an early investor in Soros Fund Management) in 2001 and offers a family of single manager funds, multi manager products and bespoke portfolio management. The firm currently has an Asia Dividend Equity Fund, which invests primarily in high yield Asian […]
Seafarer Capital: Q3 2016 Review
Seafarer Capital Partners is an investment adviser focused on emerging markets. The firm was founded in 2011 by Andrew Foster, who previously worked at Matthews International Capital Management. They currently offer two funds: Overseas Growth and Income and Overseas Value. Below are some highlights from Andrew Foster’s portfolio review for the third quarter. The complete letter […]