The Aberdeen Asia Pacific Equity Fund is managed by a well-resourced and experienced management team based in Singapore. Hugh Young together with Peter Hames moved to Singapore in 1992, and today the pan-Asian team has expanded to include offices in five other locations in the region. Hames retired in June 2010, but over the years he and Young built a well-resourced squad where some of the senior managers have been with Aberdeen for more than 10 years.
The chief attraction continues to be the investment process, which has been in place since 1985 and reflects the team's strong emphasis on quality, growing firms that have the management skill to deal with that growth. They consider quality companies to have sustainable, competitive business models, strong balance sheets, high returns on assets and capital, and good corporate governance. For example, they believe China's macro climate is not always reflected at the corporate level, and there are few firms with proven track records with good standards of accounting and transparency. They prefer to gain exposure to China via reputable Hong Kong-domiciled firms that do business in China.
Active risks can be high in the fund and, combined with the focus on quality and long-term investing, the fund's performance can look very different from its benchmark and peers. For example, in 2013 the fund was behind both comparators--many of the holdings that had performed strongly in previous years then fell on profit-taking. Stock selection in China/Hong Kong also weighed on performance last year.
Despite this, we continue to favour the fund’s consistent approach, which is undertaken by a highly experienced and well-resourced team. We think the fund remains a good choice for the long-term oriented investors seeking exposure to Asia. The fund has our highest Analyst Rating of Gold
