Asian Opportunities Equity Fund

Investment involves risk. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of current or future results and should not be the sole factor of consideration when selecting a product or strategy.

Strategy

Fund Summary

Actively managed and invests mainly in a diversified portfolio of shares of companies in Asia.

No data available

Risks

The following risks are materially relevant to the fund. Please click here to view the definitions of the risks listed below.

Country risk – China
Currency
Emerging markets
Equities
ESG
Geographic concentration
Investment fund
Issuer concentration
Management
Market
Operational
Small/mid cap
Stock Connect

Typical Investor

Investors who plan to invest for the medium to long term, and who:

• are interested in investment growth
• are looking to diversify their equity investments, in particular existing investments in developed markets
• understand and can accept the risks of the fund, including the risks of investing in emerging markets

Purchases

Please Note

There is currently limited Purchases & Sales data for this fund. Please contact us for more information.

Sales

Please Note

There is currently limited Purchases & Sales data for this fund. Please contact us for more information.

30-Jun-2022 - Jihong Min, Portfolio Manager,

We bought shares of construction software company Glodon amid a sell-off in technology-related stocks. We see substantial room for automation and software penetration in China's construction industry to increase, and we believe that Glodon's market dominance should benefit it. We also like the company's steady business in cost estimation and its growth potential in construction management.
Sunny Optical Technology is among the world's top makers of smartphone lens sets and camera modules, as well as vehicle lens sets. Concerns about softer demand and increased competition in its smartphone-related business put pressure on the company's share price; we took advantage of this weakness to invest in it. Our structural growth outlook for its vehicle lens set business remains intact given the rise of assisted and autonomous driving. We also expect margins in its smartphone-related business to improve.
We invested in Bank Central Asia (BCA) as broad risk aversion held back the stock. BCA is a leading private-sector lender in Indonesia, and it stands out to us for its solid deposit base, competitive transaction banking business, and prudent lending culture. We think that it shows visible potential as a long-term earnings compounder. �
BDO Unibank is a major universal bank in the Philippines. We bought the stock in the belief that it had not fully priced in the potential of a post-pandemic recovery. We view BDO as a likely beneficiary of economic growth and rising interest rates in the Philippines, and we expect improved earnings to support a valuation re-rating for the stock.
We sold shares of India-based housing loan provider Housing Development Finance Corporation, which announced a merger with Indian private-sector lender HDFC Bank. HDFC Bank is a high-conviction holding and we thought it was prudent to manage our exposure to the post-merger entity, while raising funds for other investments.
Jollibee Foods owns fast-food restaurant chains in the Philippines and abroad, including the U.S. We were mindful of the size of our holding, so we reduced it to fund other investments, even though our long-term outlook for the company remains positive. We have conviction in the strength of Jollibee's core domestic business and the turnaround in its international business.
We purchased shares of Haier Smart Home, a major home appliance maker in China. We anticipate potential market share gains for the company. Haier has a strong presence in the premium market segment, and we believe it is well-placed to benefit from consumers' growing interest in quality brands.
We sold shares of oral care product company Colgate-Palmolive (India). While we considered its fundamentals to be solid, we are concerned about its muted growth in a competitive market and concentrated product portfolio.
Hindustan Unilever is a major FMCG company in India. We bought shares in the company because we view it as a high-quality business with a strong management team, a diverse product portfolio, and market leadership across various product categories. Weak rural demand, rising raw material costs, and other market concerns undercut the stock's valuation, which created a better-priced entry point for us.

Contributors

Please Note

There is currently limited data for this fund. Please contact us for more information.

Detractors

Please Note

There is currently limited data for this fund. Please contact us for more information.

30-Jun-2022 - Jihong Min, Portfolio Manager,

Shares of fast-food restaurant operator Yum China rallied as easing coronavirus curbs bolstered the outlook for consumer spending. The company operates KFC and Pizza Hut chains in China, and we view it as a high-quality business whose fundamentals have stayed solid despite pandemic disruptions. We like its competitive lead, its management team's strong track record, and its potential to ramp up store expansion.�
We benefited from our underweight exposure to Samsung Electronics, one of the world's leading memory chip makers, which fell sharply over the quarter. Worries about weaker chip demand and prices overshadowed the company's consensus-beating financial results. While we see room for a further deceleration in the memory chip cycle, we remain positive on Samsung's ability to benefit from the next industry upturn. We think it is among the select South Korean companies possessing visible long-term earnings growth potential and other characteristics aligned with our investment philosophy.
Songcheng Performance Development is a theme park operator in China. Looser mobility restrictions in China, including a shorter quarantine period for inbound travelers, buoyed the stock. Notwithstanding COVID's disruptions on Songcheng's operations, we think that the company's fundamentals remain healthy, and its earnings are likely to recover with the return of leisure travel. We also expect the expansion of theme parks to drive its future earnings growth.
Shares of internet platform company Sea Limited fell as investors shifted away from growth-oriented stocks. It also reported mixed financial results. We see a path to profitability for Sea and we consider the stock to be oversold. In our view, the company's online gaming business remains well-positioned to gain market share in Southeast Asia and expand in other emerging countries, while its e-commerce platform Shopee also has a long runway of growth. We expect cost-cutting efforts to further support the business.
ASML is a semiconductor equipment maker with key markets in Asia. The stock retreated amid fears of slowing momentum in the semiconductor industry. ASML is the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology, which is used to print the most advanced chips, and we expect the increasing adoption of this technology to drive solid long-term growth for the company.

Disclosure on Vendor Indices can be found here.

Current Year Performance

Annualised Performance

Team

Fees

Risks

Typical Investor

Calendar Year Performance

Cumulative Performance

Top 10 Holdings

Purchases

Sales

Contributors

Detractors

Sector Attribution

Region Diversification

Geographical Attribution - Top and Bottom Five by Total Value Added

Team