HEAD-TO-HEAD: First State vs Schroders

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The First State fund’s equity sleeve, the Asian Equity Plus, has been managed by Martin Lau since August 2003, according to Yew. He is also managing around $22bn of assets across a number of Greater China and Asia-Pacific equity mandates, which Yew said have delivered strong returns.

The fund’s fixed income sleeve, the Asian Quality Bond Fund, has been managed by Nigel Foo since September 2012. He has 18 years of investment experience and is supported by two co-managers and an eight-member Asian fixed-income team.

Yew said he has no concerns with the First State teams.

For the Schroders fund, the lead portfolio manager is Patrick Brenner, who replaced the previous manager and head of Asian multi-asset Richard Coghlan in August 2015. Brenner has 16 years of investment experience in managing global multi-asset mandates, though his experience in Asia multi-asset is relatively new, according to Yew.

“We’re still waiting for him to build his experience in multi-asset investing in the region,” Yew said.

He noted, however, that Brenner is supported by a 10-member team in Asia, which sits within a 100 -member global multi-asset team.

Although Brenner is relatively new to the fund, Yew believes that the overall team and process provides adequate support.

The equity portion is managed by Manish Bhatia and Robin Parbrook, who are supported by a 32-member Asia ex-Japan equities team.

The fixed income portion is managed by Angus Hui, who is supported by five credit analysts.

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