Lion Global Investors (LGI) and China Merchants Fund Management (CMF) said today that they are collaborating to launch the Lion-China Merchants Emerging Asia Select Index ETF.
The ETF is LGI’s seventh ETF and marks CMF’s first collaboration with an ETF issuer in Singapore. It will list on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) on 11 December 2024 and will be available in Singapore dollars under the SGX code EAA.
The Lion-China Merchants Emerging Asia Select Index ETF is part of the Singapore Exchange-Shanghai Stock Exchange (SGX-SSE) ETF Product Link, and aims to replicate the performance of the iEdge Emerging Asia Select 50 Index by tracking the 50 largest and most tradable companies in four key emerging Asia markets: India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, and providing access to growth in these countries.
Index constituents include Indonesia’s Bank Central Asia and India’s HDFC Bank and Thailand’s PTT PCL among its top constituents (as of 31 October 2024), with larger allocations to sectors such as finance, technology and energy.
Kwok Keng Han, chief marketing officer at Lion Global Investors, said: “While developed markets often take the Asian spotlight, we are now seeing notable focus on emerging Asia markets and are committed to providing an easier channel for clients to access these markets.”
“The encouraging adoption we see from investors across our range of ETF offerings in the past year underlies the belief that investors see value in cost-efficient, well-designed strategies that combine the best elements of indexing with the potential to achieve better outcomes for well-diversified portfolios,” he added.
The initial offering period (IOP) of the new ETF is from 25 November 25 to 6 December 2024. The issue price of each unit during the IOP is SGD 1.30 (or the approximate equivalent of $1).
During the IOP, investors may subscribe to the ETF through OCBC ATMs/internet banking/mobile banking and participating dealers including iFAST Financial Pte. Ltd., OCBC Securities Pte. Ltd., Phillip Securities Pte. Ltd., Maybank Securities and Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
Dr Xu Yong, general manager, China Merchants Fund Management said: “Through this collaboration, we will be able to offer a new allocation tool for domestic investors, providing scalable solutions and thereby enhancing our service to investors.”
As part of its involvement in the SGX-SSE ETF Product Link, China Merchants Fund Management will reciprocate with the listing of a feeder ETF for the Lion-China Merchants Emerging Asia Select Index ETF on the Shanghai Stock Exchange by March 2025. The company manages the largest CSI A500 ETF listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which is tracking the CSI A500 Index with an AUM of RMB 13.6bn ($1.88bn) as of 15 November 2024.
