Manager Review
The Aberdeen fund’s lead portfolio manager is Hugh Young, managing director for Asia. He is supported by a team of 13 investment managers who are involved in the day-to-day management of the strategy, Sim said.
Young has 34 years of industry experience and 20 years of strategy tenure. The overall team has an average of 13 years of industry experience with nine years of strategy tenure.
The lead portfolio manager of the Goldman fund is Prashant Khemka. He is the CIO of emerging markets equity, overseeing portfolio management and investment research for the firm’s emerging markets equity accounts.
He leads GSAM’s India equity, BRIC equity and global emerging market equity strategies. Prior to assuming this role, Prashant spent seven years in Mumbai as the CIO and co-CEO of GSAM in India.
Khemka joined GSAM in May 2000 as a member of the US growth equity team, first as a research analyst, then as a portfolio manager and then as a senior portfolio manager and co-chair of the investment committee.
Fees
Sim said the Aberdeen fund has an initial charge of 5%, while Goldman’s product is 5.5%. The annual management fee is 1.75% per annum for Aberdeen and higher at 2.25% for Goldman, he said.
“These are mostly in line with the market. Where fund selection is concerned, the fees would be secondary if the funds are able to deliver expected results,” he said.
Conclusion
Sim believes that the differences in both funds’ portfolio strategies and approach appeal to different groups of investors.
The high concentration and large cap approach of the Aberdeen fund would appeal to investors who prefer a high conviction and lower relative volatility portfolio, he said.
“Given its longer track record, this would also go with investors who want a fund that has navigated through the global financial crisis.”
However, investors who believe in the India growth story ultimately benefitting emerging corporates would find the Goldman Sachs fund a more attractive proposition, given the fund’s wider approach to the small and mid-cap space, he said.
“Still, they would also need to be able to stomach higher volatility.”
