Columbia Threadneedle Investments has partnered with UBS Global Wealth Management on the launch of its Japan equities strategy to the Swiss private bank’s clients.
The strategy is managed by Daisuke Nomoto (pictured), Columbia Threadneedle’s global head of Japanese equities and aims to generate alpha from stock selection across the whole market cap spectrum. It has a quality bias and focuses on companies with durable competitive advantages.
“Working in partnership, we are pleased to bring our clients exclusive access to a strategy that has proven long-term outperformance in Japanese equities. This is a testimonial to the strength and uniqueness of UBS’s shelf of products and offerings we offer to our clients in our region,” said Jansen Phee, head of funds investment solutions for Asia Pacific and head of global investment management for China at UBS Global Wealth Management.
“I am bullish on Japan. I believe it now offers a deep investment universe of high-quality companies that can potentially generate sustainable earnings growth. For me, Japan has five positive ‘lows’, which I do not believe can be found in other equity markets, these are: low leverage in the corporate balance sheets, low interest rates, low valuations, low expectations for reforms and low retail allocation to equities,” said Nomoto.
“All these characteristics are supportive of the price of risk assets. In the current environment, I see Japan as a golden opportunity and believe investors should look to take advantage.”
“We continue to see strong appetite for our Japan equities strategy from wholesale and institutional clients, having raised almost $500m in recent months,” said Jon Allen, head of Asia Pacific at Columbia Threadneedle Investments.
“With the positive climate for Japanese equities, I believe that this is an optimum time to expand the strategy led by Daisuke Nomoto and are delighted to partner with UBS GWM exclusively for the next three months to help fulfil the demand seen from their clients.”
