Manulife Asset Management (Thailand) has announced the upcoming launch of the Manulife Strength – European Growth FIF (MS-EUROPE), an open-ended Foreign Investment Fund (FIF) designed to capitalise on growth opportunities in European equity markets.
Thai investors can subscribe to the Fund during 18-27 March 2014 with a minimum initial subscription of THB10,000.
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Tor Indhavivadhana, CEO of Manulife Asset Management (Thailand), said: "With Thai equities continuing to show heightened volatility, we believe that investors should consider diversifying their portfolios by complementing local investments with overseas securities. The MS-EUROPE can be a valuable addition to an investor portfolio as it can simultaneously diversify risk exposure while contributing the potential for attractive returns."
The MS-EUROPE is a "feeder fund" that invests in a "master fund," the Manulife Global Fund – European Growth Fund (I Class). The master fund is registered in Luxembourg and invests in a diversified portfolio of equities in mainly large companies quoted on stock markets in Europe (including the United Kingdom) or having substantial interests in Europe. The AA class of the master fund generated attractive cumulative return of 84.4% over the last five years.
Tor added: "In particular, investors who do not have the time to closely follow equity markets across Europe can benefit from the insights of Manulife Asset Management’s on-the-ground equity investment professionals, who carefully select investment securities based on company visits and in-depth research of markets and companies."
William Hamlyn, managing director and senior investment analyst for Manulife Asset Management (Europe), said: "We believe that this is a good time to invest in European equities. While markets in the region performed strongly in 2013, in particular those of peripheral nations such as Greece and Spain, we see further upside potential driven primarily by earnings and margin normalisation from currently depressed levels. Many US companies have already seen significant recovery in these areas and we expect European companies to follow suit as recoveries in the region have historically lagged the US.
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By GlobalData"We see two main opportunities: high-quality franchises with global exposure trading at discounts to their peers and more domestic-oriented companies that are highly geared to regional economic recovery. Many European companies are trading at attractive levels despite being very strong franchises with histories of excellent corporate governance.
"In our view, European earnings recovery is overdue as the worst of the debt crisis appears to be over. The region emerged from an unprecedented six-quarter recession in the second quarter of 2013 and is poised to show GDP growth of 1.0% in 2014 and 1.4% in 2015."
Manulife Asset Management (Thailand) plans to launch two classes of the MS-EUROPE: the A-class (capital appreciation) and D-class (dividend). The A-class will emphasise generating returns via capital appreciation while the D-class will aim to provide regular income via a dividend pay-out mechanism.
