HEAD-TO-HEAD: Fidelity versus First State

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Manager review

The lead manager for the Fidelity product is Raymond Ma, who has been managing the fund since 2012. He has 17 years of industry experience and joined the firm in 2006, according to Share.=

He is supported by 14 dedicated Greater China analysts, with eight years of experience on average and an average of four years in the firm.

Share noted that Ma personally invests in the fund.

“He has consistently demonstrated a true passion for investing, and we like that he invests in the Greater China fund, aligning his interests with investors.”

Turning to the First State fund, Share said that the lead manager of the product, Martin Lau, has been managing the fund since 2002.

He also manages other Greater China and Asia-Pacific mandates and is supported by an 18-member investment team that covers Asia-Pacific.

Lau is also personally invested in the fund, according to Share, noting that First State has a company bonus structure in which 50% of managers’ bonus are invested in the fund they are managing.

“Fidelity has something similar, but I don’t think it is as much as 50%,” she said.

Share believes both managers have ample resources. Although the First State fund does not have dedicated Greater China analysts like Fidelity, Share said that the fund is concentrated and therefore does not need a lot of analysts.

Given that the Fidelity fund is more diversified, Ma would need more dedicated analysts covering Greater China, she added.

Share likes both teams, but prefers the First State team, given the longer track-record of Lau managing the fund, as well as the investment culture of managers and analysts investing 50% of their bonus in the funds that they manage.

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