Specialist Asia-Pacific fund manager Chirin Capital is about to launch the Chirin Asia Absolute Alpha Fund, a Dublin-domiciled Ucits III fund that will invest in Asian markets excluding Ja
Specialist Asia-Pacific fund manager Chirin Capital is about to launch the Chirin Asia Absolute Alpha Fund, a Dublin-domiciled Ucits III fund that will invest in Asian markets excluding Japan but including Australia. The fund is due to be launched on September 22.
The fund will seek to outperform the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex-Japan index on the upside and differentiate itself from its competitors by using futures, options and tactical cash weightings to preserve capital through market downturns. The aim is to enhance long-term compound returns by reducing volatility for investors, particularly on the downside.
The investment team is based in both London and Singapore and is headed by chief investment officer and lead manager Martin Shenfield, who has 28 years experience of investing in Asia, where he was a pioneer of absolute return investing and has managed funds for Fidelity International, Singer & Friedlander and TT International.
The other members of the team are John Whitcher and Stewart Slater who have a combined 25 years’ experience of investing in the region. The team will invest on the basis of a strategic top-down global overview combined with rigorous bottom-up stock picking.
‘Despite the current extraordinary challenges to global capital markets, the long-term strategic case for investment in Asia remains undiminished,’ Shenfield says. ‘However the severe market turbulence experienced so far this year re-emphasises that investing in Asian markets is as much about risk management as traditional stock-picking.
‘Our absolute return approach, refined over many years’ experience, aims to capture the upside returns and relatively outperform the MSCI benchmark index, while utilising the flexibility of Ucits III hedging powers to minimise downside volatility and preserve capital during difficult or bear markets.’
The fund has been developed and will be marketed in conjunction with distribution firm Spring Capital Partners, whose managing director Richard Thompson says: ‘Currently there are very few regulated funds that offer an absolute return approach to investing in the region.
‘Most funds tend simply to rise and fall in line with the stock markets. The options available for hedging out market risk have been significantly enhanced under Ucits III rules, and the Chirin Asia Absolute Alpha Fund will be able to utilise these for the advantage of its investors.’
