Aberdeen reopens FIFs
Reacting to the sharp fall in the global stock markets and the new quota for investments abroad granted by the Bank of Thailand (BOT), Aberdeen Asset Management Co Ltd has reopened subscription to two of its Foreign Investment Funds (FIF).
Last week, the BOT raised the quota for 18 asset management companies to invest abroad from US$500 million (Bt19.2 billion) to US$1.3 billion. Aberdeen obtained a $35-million quota.Managing director Hugh Young accepts that the global market is volatile but remains positive about the Asian market. "Tactically, we have made only one major change in our investment strategy in the Asian market. We overweighed India five or six years ago but a few months ago we decreased our investment proportion from 15 per cent to 13 per cent. I've visited 95 per cent of the companies in which we've invested. Their balance sheets, cash-flows and dividend yields remain in good shape. Nothing fundamentally has changed, only market sentiment has," Young said. The global stock market is in turbulence due to continuing sell-offs by foreign investors to shift money to debt instruments owing to anxiety over US interest rate hikes. Aberdeen Asset Management has so far launched two FIFs: Aberdeen Asia Pacific Equity Fund, launched in July last year, generated 4.7 per cent returns as of last Friday while the World Opportunities Fund, launched this March, had a Bt9.495 net asset value per unit. Commenting on the Thai-Euro Fund, a country fund under his company's management that was transferred from MFC Asset Management, Young said: "Although foreign investors tend to be interested in regional investment rather than a country fund, there's still a group of investors that prefer such a fund. Young admitted the fund's value has declined substantially but said, "with our network world-wide we believe that it's going to be another challenge for us". Piyarat Setthasiriphaiboon The Nation
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