Value Partners has received approval from Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to launch its Hong Kong-domiciled Value Partners High-Dividend Stocks Fund to retail investors in the market, according to a statement from the firm.
This will be the firm’s first retail offshore offering in Taiwan, Wallace Tsang, Hong Kong-based managing director and regional head of intermediary business for Asia-Pacific at Value Partners, told FSA.
“To penetrate the local retail market in Taiwan, we have decided to go through the registration of our offshore funds as the first stage,” Tsang said.
The firm has appointed TransGlobal Capital Management as the fund’s master agent to distribute the fund.
Previously, Value Partners had an onshore business in the market via its joint venture fund with Concord Securities Group, Value Partners Concord Asset Management. The JV, which was established in 2011 and managed one locally-domiciled fund, was acquired by Aberdeen Asset Management (now Aberdeen Standard Investments) in 2017.
At the time of the acquisition, a Value Partners spokeswoman said that the firm “will continue to work with its business partners in Taiwan to distribute its funds through private placement and offshore platforms”.
Currently, Value Partners does not have any plans to start a new business in Taiwan’s onshore market, Tsang said.
“By taking a regional expansion perspective, we will continue to review all marketplaces in the region which show better opportunity sets,” he said.
Launched in 2002 in Hong Kong, the Value Partners High-Dividend Stocks Fund invests in high-yielding dividend stocks listed primarily in North Asia.
“In our view, Taiwan investors have high appetite for products with a stable payout feature,” Tsang said.
As of the end of January, the fund has $1.91bn in assets.
The Value Partners High-Dividend Stocks Fund vs category average and benchmark
