Asia Ex Japan Equity Strategy

Asia Ex Japan Equity Strategy

Asia Ex Japan Equity Strategy

 
 
Summary

The Asia Ex Japan Equity Strategy is a diversified, core portfolio seeking to identify growing Asia ex Japan countries and the quality companies that could potentially benefit. In our integrated process, we translate macrothematic research and fundamental bottom-up analysis into a growth oriented portfolio. We take a thematic approach to help identify longer term trends not fully appreciated by the market and construct a diversified portfolio of 50 to 75 stocks we believe are positioned to benefit from the future drivers of growth in Asian emerging markets.

 
 
Investment Approach
Philosophy

The Asia Equity team believes that there are inefficiencies in Asian markets that we can systematically take advantage of through a disciplined investment process. We capture investment opportunities and add value by integrating top-down sector/thematic analysis and bottom-up stock selection and by utilizing a rigorous and fundamental research approach.

The Team believes this integrated process offers the most effective approach given the diverse economic profiles of Asian countries.

Our investment philosophy emphasizes understanding market drivers and uses internal macro/thematic selection tools to identify fundamentals and catalysts that we believe will drive stock outperformance.

The Team focuses on stocks that are mis-priced relative to its fundamental value and look for countries, sectors and themes that are attractive when evaluated on a combination of valuation, growth outlook and return expectations.  We seek to identify medium to long-term trends that are not recognized by the market.

The fundamental philosophy of finding quality growth companies incorporating both top-down and bottom-up approach has not changed for our Strategy. ESG is formally integrated as part of our investment process.

 
Differentiators
Asian Emerging Markets Experience

Morgan Stanley Investment Management is a pioneer in emerging Asian markets investing and continues to demonstrate expertise and commitment through all market cycles. We began analyzing the emerging Asian markets in 1984 and investing in the asset class in 1986, originally in Emerging Asia. With more than 30 years of experience in managing Asian EM portfolios, we have gained deep knowledge of how governments, industries and companies operate. We believe that our time-tested investment philosophy and consistent investment process can deliver outperformance.

Differentiated Process

Our research shows that macro factors are an important driver of returns and risks in emerging markets, and we believe the most effective way to invest in Asia ex Japan is through an integrated top-down and bottom-up approach.  Our investors and dedicated macroeconomic research team conduct country, thematic and sector analysis to identify markets where the macro environment is positive and/or improving. We combine this with our disciplined fundamental, bottom-up process to select the most attractive investable companies.

Core Approach

We seek to construct a portfolio of 50-75 high conviction companies, actively positioned and diversified across countries and stocks. We identify stocks with a quality growth bias where companies have a solid balance sheet, strong competitive advantage, attractive and sustainable earnings growth and return on invested capital, and management that is aligned with shareholders. Our investment horizon is two to three years, and we expect tracking error for the strategy to be between 4-6%, relative to the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Net Index.1

 

1 The targets and exposures presented are typical ranges. There is no assurance that these targets will be attained.

 
 
 
 
Investment Process
asia-ex-japan-equity-investment-process
 
 
Portfolio Managers  
Amay Hattangadi
Amay Hattangadi
Managing Director
29 years industry experience
Rose Kim
Rose Kim
Executive Director
14 years industry experience
Samson Hung
Samson Hung
Vice President
20 years industry experience
 

Team members may be subject to change at any time without notice.

Effective 1 April 2025, Rose Kim and Samson Hung became portfolio managers for the Strategy.