Zenith recommends new Man GLG Asia fund

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

15 November 2022

The investment management arm of Man Group, Man GLG, has received a ‘Recommended’ rating from Lonsec for its newly launched Man GLG Asia Opportunities Fund.

The fund uses a long-only approach and invests in equities either listed on exchanges in the Asian region or those that derive most of their revenue from the Asian region.

Andrew Swan, Portfolio Manager at Man GLG, said the fund was developed and brought to market following rising adviser demand for more opportunities in Asian equities.

“The fund’s philosophy is to maximise long-term capital appreciation. We take a flexible, fundamentals-driven approach to investing to create a concentrated high conviction portfolio of 35-45 stocks from a universe of 1200 stocks,” he said.

“This provides exposure to a broad universe of Asia ex-Japan equities that can be difficult for individual investors to access.”

As the fund launches during a time of uncertainty regarding exposure to Asian investments, Swan said there are several reasons “to be optimistic on the outlook for markets in the Asian region”.

“Relative to developed markets, there are minimal inflation pressures in the Asian region generally,” he said.

“Compared to the situation in developed markets, there is a lower level of speculation in Asian asset prices to be unwound. This presents good opportunities for astute investors.”

Zenith’s research report also highlighted the firm’s successful “investment process” as “driven by macroeconomic and fundamental research” and the team’s “required experience and expertise” to manage the fund.

“Zenith has high regard for the portfolio manager, Andrew Swan, and believes that the fund is well positioned to deliver upon its investment objectives,” the report said.

GSFM will be the responsible entity (RE) and distributor of the fund in the Australian and New Zealand markets, as it seeks to achieve a gross return of three to five per cent more than the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Net Index as its benchmark over rolling three-to-five-year periods.