Fund of the week: a back-to-basics approach to Asia

published 20 June 2008

Buy and hold' is hardly the most sophisticated investment strategy. But it's proved a successful approach for Peter Hames and the team of analysts who manage the Aberdeen Asia Pacific and Japan fund. The fund has returned 97% over the past five years, against 83.7% for the FTSE Asia Pacific fund.

Based in Singapore since 1992, Hames looks "for good, well-run, easy-to-understand companies that have strong fundamentals and good long-term prospects, trading at sensible prices", he tells Investment Adviser. Hames aims to buy companies that are trading at a discount to their peers, using simple ratios, such as price to earnings. Turnover of stocks in the fund is also very low at 10%-20% a year. "Our view is very long term, with the portfolio hardly changing from day to day." That means that the fund does not incur high levels of broker fees for trading shares.

Underweight China, where he believed a bubble was fomenting for some time, he tends to go for Asian firms with a strong regional focus. For example, among his top ten holdings is Singapore Bank Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, whichis expanding aggressively in Indonesia and Malaysia. He also likes Singapore Telekom, which focuses on the Australian and emerging Asian markets.

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And although the total expense ratio of 1.91% makes it look a bit pricey, "there's a lot to like here", says Tom Whitelaw on Morningstar. "This fund boasts a strong record, a sensible strategy, and a seasoned and disciplined management team. It's a strong choice for investors seeking diversified exposure to Asia."

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