HEAD-TO-HEAD: Barings versus First State

123456

Manager review

The Barings fund is managed by the trio of Isabelle Irish, William Palmer and Michael Levy, who have worked together on emerging market mandates for several years, according to McDermott.

“Palmer arrived at Barings in 2011, and was appointed co-head for the emerging and frontier equities team in 2016 and also oversees the Asia ex-Japan investment function,” he said.

Before Barings, he was senior asset manager and head of Asia ex-Japan equities at KBC Asset Management in Dublin.

Levy joined the team in July 2012 after 17 years at Alliance Bernstein where he held a number of equity portfolio management and research roles, according to McDermott.

He began his career in 1992 at Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants as a partner trainee.

“At Barings, in addition to being co-head for emerging and frontier equities with Palmer, Levy also oversees the Latin American and Emerging Europe functions,” he said

The most recent addition is Irish, who joined Barings in June 2013 as an investment manager in the global emerging markets equity team and is co-manager for a number of mandates.

Previously, she spent eight years at Pictet Asset Management with its global emerging markets team.

At First State, Rasmus Nemmoe has managed the Global Emerging Markets Focus Fund since its launch in 2017. He has 14 years of investment experience, focusing on global emerging market equities.

“He previously worked at BankInvest in Copenhagen for six years – four of which he spent as a portfolio manager for Asia ex Japan equities,” said McDermott.

“Prior to this he was a portfolio manager of the BankInvest Consumer fund, focusing on consumer discretionary and staples equities across both developed and emerging markets,” he added.

Co-manager of the fund is Mumbai-based Naren Gorthy, who has been with First State since 2014.

123456