HEAD-TO-HEAD: Fidelity versus Matthews Asia

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Manager review

The Fidelity fund has been led by Dale Nicholls since 2003, according to Daniels. He joined the firm’s Tokyo office in 1996 as a Japanese analyst and moved into Japanese technology and cyclical sector portfolios, which he managed from 1999-2003.

In 2003, he relocated to Singapore and subsequently to Hong Kong, where he is currently based.

He is supported by a sizable team of 70 investment professionals covering Apac, which Daniels believes is important considering Nicholls’ portfolio has around 200 holdings, many of which are under-followed small- and mid-cap stocks.

“Nicholls has been around for a long time and has made use of the Fidelity analyst team, which is one reason why the fund’s approach is differentiated because of the size and scale of the team. This really makes the investment approach hard to replicate by competitors,” Daniels said.

Turning to the Matthews Asia fund, Daniels said that the product is managed by four portfolio managers.

Yu Zhang became the sole lead manager of the strategy in 2018 after serving as co-lead manager from 2013-2018. He started in 2007 as an analyst and then in 2011 became co-manager.

Robert Horrocks, the chief investment officer at Matthews Asia, began as co-lead manager in 2013 and switched to a co-manager role in 2018. He has also served as a manager of the Matthews Asia Growth and Income Fund since 2009.

The other managers include Vivek Tanneeru, who became co-manager in 2014, and Joyce Li, who was recently appointed as co-manager last month. Li replaced Vivek Tanneeru, who is now focusing on his duties as lead manager of the US-domiciled Asia ESG strategy and other ESG-related responsibilities.

The four managers are supported by 23 other managers and 12 analysts, according to Daniels.

While the fund had a recent change in its manager line-up, Daniels does not have concerns over the team.

“Although there is some manager change, all managers in Matthews Asia work together collaboratively. There are really no changes – the managers who stepped away is still there and is just in a different role,” he said.

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