HEAD-TO-HEAD: Aberdeen Standard versus First State

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Manager review

Flavia Cheong manages the Aberdeen Standard Asia Equity Fund and is also head of Asia Pacific Equities at the ASI.

“She has a long, successful track-record managing Asian equities,” said Cheung.

Before joining Aberdeen in 1996, she was an economist with the Investment Company of the People’s Republic of China and earlier with the Development Bank of Singapore.

At the merged ASI entity she shares responsibility for company research, as well as overseeing regional portfolio construction.

“She makes the final call on allocations and selections, but she relies on a team of single-stock analysts for expertise,” said Cheung.

Although, Cheung is not especially familiar with Cheong, he notes that she has had to cope with the disruption following the merger of Aberdeen with Standard Life in 2017, which led to some staff turnover.

“There were some significant changes and it will be a while before it’s clear how the management team and this fund will adjust,” said Cheung.

In contrast, perhaps, Martin Lau, who manages the First State Asian Equity Plus Fund with Richard Jones, is “one of the best-known fund managers in Asia,” said Cheung.

“He is also one of the most successful in the region,” he added.

Lau is a managing partner of First State Stewart Asia (an autonomous team within First State Investments) and has about 22 years of experience managing Asia Pacific and Greater China portfolios. He joined the First State Stewart Asia team in April 2002 and is based in Hong Kong, where he is the lead manager of several other First State Asia funds.

“Arguably, Lau wears too many hats. However, he seems to be handling his multiple responsibilities well,” said Cheung.

In fact, his co-manager Richard Jones probably looks after the day-to-day micro-management of the fund, while Lau overseas the general strategy — a function he performs for other funds too, according to Cheung.

Jones is a director of First State Stewart Asia, and has 30 years of investment experience in Asia, focused on both company research and portfolio management.

He joined the First State Stewart Asia team in January 2010 and is based in Hong Kong.

He is also the lead manager of the First State Asia Opportunities Fund, the First State Asian Growth Fund and the First State Singapore and Malaysia Fund.

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