Bangkok--20 Apr--Asset Plus Fund
Asset Plus Fund Management launches Asset Plus Stars Fund 2 (ASP-STARS 2), focusing on investment in leading global brand stocks, with an 18-month investment horizon. Profit is gradually taken when its NAV increases every 5 per cent from par by auto-redemption. ASP-STARS 2 will be opened for IPO from April 19 to May 3 this year.
Mrs. Ladawan Charoen-Rajapark, Managing Director of Asset Plus Fund Management (Asset Plus), announced that the company is seeking to achieve asset under management (AUM) target growth from 23 billion baht this year to 35 billion baht by the end of 2012, and is targeting net profit growth by 25 per cent in 2012 from both mutual fund and private fund businesses.
For 2012, Asset Plus offers various mutual funds and private funds, focusing on flexible funds that mainly invest in foreign and local equities to generate target returns within the investment horizon. Besides, since fixed-income funds are still core investment for most clients, the company will continue to offer fixed-income funds (both new and rollover funds) to satisfy clients. To generate good returns, Asset Plus will continue to offer products suiting each stage of market situations. It also concentrates on product benefits based on the appropriate risk appetite of each investor.
Mrs. Ladawan added, “For our investment outlook this year, we expected that very low interest rates and high liquidity will encourage “equity”, which is highly liquid assets, to become more attractive to invest in, although liquidity flow and some economic factors may raise trading volatility from time to time. The U.S. economy is still fragile despite many good signs from economic indicators of the first quarter. However, the U.S. may launch its third round of quantitative easing (QE3) in the second half of this year to stimulate their economy. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy is slowing down because that country’s government has set a new growth target of 7.5 per cent for 2012, which is lower than 8 per cent of the past several years. Also, European countries must cut their budget spending due to the public debt crisis. Finally, the Japanese economy is likely to struggle with deflation. Thailand's economy will recover, even after the Great Floods of the past year. There are, however, other risks from rising inflation and oil prices, besides interest rate policy. However, we remain confident that selecting good fundamental stocks at reasonable prices will give equity investment better returns than investing in other asset classes.”
For investors who are interested investing in foreign equity, Asset Plus is offering Asset Plus Stars fund 2 (ASP-STARS 2) from April 19 to May 3. ASP-STARS 2 is a foreign flexible fund capable of managing investment portions of equity and fixed-income between 0 and 100 per cent to suit investment situations. With an investment horizon for 18 months, the fund will gradually take profit when its NAV increases every 0.50 baht by auto-redemption to create cash flow for investors during the investment. Fund managers will manage the foreign-exchange rate risk of ASP-STARS 2 with a dynamic hedging policy by analyzing the exchange rate to suit each investment period.
The ASP-STARS 2 fund, actively managed by the company’s own fund managers with active fund management, is focused on identical stock selection strategy to the previous ASP-STARS fund launched last year. ASP-STARS could generate good returns to investor by auto-redemption for 2 times, totaling of 1 baht per unit or accounting for 10 per cent of their initial investment. Since its inception ASP-STARS on April 28, 2011 ended on April 12, 2012, the fund outperformed MSCI All Country World Index at 17 per cent (the fund performance was at 9 per cent, while MSCI All Country World Index was at -8%).
ASP-STARS2 invests mainly in global stocks, especially those in developed countries like the U.S., Europe, Hong Kong, and Japan, with attractive share prices compared to their fundamental values. The company also picks global growth stocks and stocks with strong earnings prospect of 15-20 per cent.
“ASP-STARS 2 will invest in three major sectors, namely Information Technology (IT), with growth prospect in consumer lifestyles, Global banks, with solid business potential and capital strength, and Lifestyle and selective global brands stocks, with business growth potential as well as undemanding stock valuations, strong earnings per share (EPS) growth, and solid earnings and cash flow quality.
We are confident that, thanks to our stock selection policy and the recovery of global economy, ASP-STARS2 will be generating good returns for investors in 18 months,” said Mrs. Ladawan.
Past performance of ASP-STARS as of April 12, 2012
Fund performance(%) 3 months 6 months Since inception
28/4/2011
ASP-STARS 13.27 19.27 8.99
MSCI All World Index 7.00 8.41 -7.52
Benchmark 5.19 5.71 -0.75
Benchmark: Average of MSCI All Country World Index 50% and Global Corporate Bond Index 50%, adjusting with foreign exchange rate at the investment date
Asset Plus Fund Management in compliance with the Association of Investment Management Companies Performance Measurement Standard
Press contact:
Miss Mookpim Chulapongstorn Tel. 02-672-1000 ext. 3308 e-mail :
[email protected]
Miss Tunchanok Anusatara Tel. 02-672-1000 ext. 3321 e-mail :
[email protected]
Investment contains risks; investors should study the fund prospectus before making a decision to invest.
Past performance of a mutual fund does not guarantee its future performance.