UOB Asset Management is awaiting approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch its United Global Innovation Fund, according to records from the regulator.
The product is expected to be registered on 17 December, according to the prospectus on the MAS website.
The firm did not reply to FSA with more details in time for publication.
It is understood that the Fund’s investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in equities globally, including emerging markets, which are believed to be beneficiaries of innovation, according to the prospectus.
The investment strategy will have a long time horizon, or up to 10 years, as many of the themes may be nascent and take time to develop.
The prospectus notes that the fund will invest in an unconstrained manner and may at times be concentrated by geography or industry sector. It may also invest in securities of small- and mid-cap companies, as well as large market-cap firms,
Strategic alliance
The product will be sub-advised by Boston-headquartered Wellington Management, which manages at least $1trn in assets and has offices in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.
UOB AM and Wellington Management formed a strategic alliance and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Singapore in 2015. Under the MOU, both firms have collaborated to develop equities and fixed income products. Wellington has sub-advised a number of UOB AM funds.
This is not the first time UOB AM is offering products that focus on a certain theme or sector. It has several sector-specific funds, which include those focusing on Asian consumers, Asia-Pacific infrastructure, real estate, global financials, global healthcare, global technology and global telecommunications, according to data from FE Analytics.
Year-to-date ending September, UOB AM has the second-highest net inflows in Singapore, with $359.4m, according to a Cerulli report. Schroders has net inflows of $492.7m.
UOB AM manages around S$34.6bn ($25.2bn) in assets globally, with operations in Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Brunei and Japan, according to the firm’s website.
Its distributors include banks (UOB and UOB Private Bank), financial advisers and platforms (Aviva’s Dollar Dex, Fundsupermart.com and Phillip Securities), according to the website.
