Manager review
Andrew Swan, fund manager of the Blackrock fund with 21 years of experience, “dedicates most of his time to managing this strategy and in the BGF Asian Growth Leaders product, where he has again delivered stellar returns”. Both funds together represent about $3.6bn in assets.
He is supported by a team of 21 portfolio managers and analysts. On average they have nine years of investment experience and three years of tenure, Share noted.
“One bone to pick is that the the team had historically more turnover than we would like to see.” For instance, it lost five members in 2014, although it has stabilised since then.
“While we recognise that the team is relatively new, Swan has successfully steered the fund regardless and much of our conviction lies in him.”
For the Schroders fund, portfolio manager Robin Parbrook, also the firm’s head of Asia ex-Japan equities, has run this fund since October 2010. He has 26 years of investment experience.
He also manages three other funds, including the Schroder ISF Asian Total Return Fund. The team is stable with 32 analysts who, on average, have 14 years of investment experience and six years with the firm, Share said.
“There have been no departures since 2013 and the team’s depth and stability make it one of our favourites in the region,” she said.
Fees
The latest ongoing charges (OCF) of the Blackrock product (Class A2) are 1.85%, as of June 2016.
The OCF of Schroders fund is slightly higher at 1.9% as of February this year.
Both are lower than Morningstar’s Asia ex-Japan equity category median charge of 1.95%.
Conclusion
The Blackrock fund receives a bronze rating from Morningstar while the Schroders a gold. Both funds have similar risk profiles.
“We like both funds, but we have higher conviction on the Schroders’ fund. We are very impressed by Parbrook and we like the stability of the underlying investment team. The investment approach has worked very well in the past and we feel like it’s more repeatable.”
The Schroders product also gives “much better downside protectio”, she added.
“On the Blackrock fund, we are just a bit more hesistant on the repeatability, as the fund relies a lot of Swan’s experience and intuition.
“If you have a lot of confidence in Swan, want to count on him and capture more of the growth-driven markets, his fund would probably do better.”
