Fund Objective

The fund’s investment objective is to provide a growing income and capital growth for investors over the long term primarily through investment in equity and equity related securities of Asian companies which offer attractive yields and growing dividend payments. The emphasis of the fund will be investment in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan (including Australia and New Zealand) region. Investment will be in directly held transferable securities. The fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, warrants and money market instruments.

View on Past Performance

The Far East region's solid economic and corporate fundamentals should continue to reward investors with robust returns in the medium to long term. From a broad economics point of view, the region has undergone a dramatic turnaround compared to a decade ago when the Asian financial crisis unfolded.Today, the region is much less vulnerable to external shocks given that most countries run current account surpluses and manageable fiscal balances. Although concerns over the flagging US economy persist, the shift in the region's growth away from its reliance on exports to domestic demand, along with healthy momentum in Europe, should help offset this.

Future Expectations

At the same time, corporate culture in Asia is showing greater maturity, as reflected by the increasing focus on shareholder value and dividend payments. Overall, companies are in strong financial shape; balance sheets are healthy, cashflows are good, dividend payments have been rising and capital expenditure is increasingly disciplined.We believe that this improvement in company, as well as economic, fundamentals, means that investors will continue to reap growing income and capital growth.

Fund Details