HEAD-TO-HEAD: Fidelity versus Mirae Asset

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Manager review

Dhananjay Phadnis became the lead manager of the Fidelity Asia Focus fund in 2015, according to Daniels. Besides the Asia Focus product, he also manages other strategies, such as the Fidelity Emerging Asia and the Fidelity Indonesia funds.

He first joined the firm in 2004 and has 18 years of investment experience.

Phadnis is supported by the firm’s Asia-Pacific team of 50 investment professionals, which include analysts, researchers and other fund managers, according to Daniels.

Turning to the Mirae fund, Daniels said that the product has been managed by Rahul Chadna since the fund’s inception in 2012. Chadna first joined Mirae Asset in 2006 and began managing the firm’s India equity funds.

He now also manages Mirae’s other Asia-Pacific equity strategies, a role he continues to hold in addition to being the team’s chief investment officer.

He is supported by six analysts, who have an average of around 10 years of investment experience.

Although Daniels is positive on both fund managers, he has more conviction on the Fidelity fund’s team given its huge size.

“Mirae’s Chadna is a very good manager, as he delivers solid insights whenever we meet him. But he doesn’t have [the same amount of resources] that Fidelity has.”

Daniels, however noted that the size of the Mirae team is ample given that its investment process includes a quant screen to deal with the large investment universe.

“After that quant screen, they look at 300 names, in which they can do more in-depth analysis.”

In addition, although the team is small, it taps on the firm’s local teams that work on locally-domiciled products in India, China and Korea, Daniels added.

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