Jonathan is best described as an unconstrained, contrarian, value manager.
First State and Aberdeen have dominated the Asian and Emerging Market Retail Investment Market. The managers are now looking to limit new money coming into their funds as they have grown in assets to a level that limits investment options.
We have identified a number of talented fund managers who we can turn to as replacements. One of the funds is run by Hermes. A lesser known name which is starting to makes its presence felt. Hermes is the active fund manager of the BT Pension Scheme, and recently opened up some of the funds to the retail space. They manage £25 billion of assets.
Because of the connection with the pension scheme the focus is on long term out-performance (rather than chasing short term wins). All the managers are rewarded on this basis over a three year period.
In this review we look at the Hermes Asia Ex Japan Equity Fund managed by Jonathan Pines.