Bangkok--5 Oct--Manulife Asset Management
Manulife Asset Management (Thailand) today announced the launch of the Manulife Strength-American Growth FIF(“MS-AMERICAN”). MS-AMERICAN is a feeder fund investing into Manulife Global Fund-American Growth Fund (Share Class I) (the “Master Fund”), which invests in U.S. equities with a focus on the larger market capitalization companies.
MS-AMERICAN’s IPO period starts on October 1 and runs until October 10, 2012.
Tor Indhavivadha, Manulife Asset Management (Thailand)’s CEO said: “The U.S. has the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization, with listings from a diversified pool of well-known global companies such as Qualcomm, Amazon.com, Apple, Google, Avon and Pepsi. In fact, of the world’s 500 largest companies, 133 are headquartered in the United States. This is a market too big for Thai investors to ignore.”
Manulife Asset Management (Thailand) expects the U.S., the world’s largest economy, and representing around one-fourth of global GDP to grow at a moderate rate of around 2%, and believes that the US Federal Reserve’s announcement in September of a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) is a positive signal suggesting that the Fed is determined to continue to boost the economy and the labor market.
Tor said: “The new stimulus measure gave a pleasant surprise to the market with an unprecedented new round of unlimited quantitative easing, an extension of Operation Twist, and a prediction that low interest rates will extend all the way into 2015. The QE3 news has also helped relax the earlier market concern on liquidity, resulting in better investor sentiment.”
From a valuation perspective, the U.S. equity market is relatively cheap. The S&P 500’s current price-to-earnings ratio is just hovering around 14 times, lower than its long-term 10-year average of 16.5 times.
Tor said: “Valuation is supported by improving earnings of companies, as we have seen many beating market expectations in the latest earnings reporting season. Many U.S. businesses manage to register robust growth despite challenges faced by the U.S. economy, due to their ability to avoid reliance on the domestic market and to generate substantial earnings and cash flow from foreign markets. The balance sheets of U.S. companies are also the strongest in decades after substantial deleveraging activities over the past two years. With all these positive factors, we are launching the Manulife Strength-American Growth FIF in order to provide investors with a convenient channel to capitalize on the potential offered by this market. “
The Master Fund is managed by Manulife Asset Management’s experienced US Large Cap Core investment team based in the U.S., co-led by Walter T. McCormick and Emory W. Sanders, Jr. who have 41 years and 15 years of investment experience, respectively. The investment team believes that company fundamentals rather than macro-economic factors should drive stocks’ returns over the longer term. Their investment process is built upon a solid foundation of discipline and procedures, and every stock undergoes a stringent evaluation before it gets into the portfolio.
Tor said: “The portfolio managers in the US investment team have been working together for a decade. They have a well-established platform for on-the-ground research which allows for timely discovery of investment ideas and on-going monitoring of relevant developments. They believe that quality companies with a sustainable competitive advantage and the ability to generate cash flow that are bought at the “right price” should outperform in the longer term.”
The Master Fund is currently positioned for a continued economic recovery in the US, with a sizable overweight in the consumer discretionary sector and in financials where the team continues to find attractive opportunities from a valuation perspective.
IPO Promotion:
During the IPO period, the front-end fee will be charged at 1.00%, and for every investment amount of THB 1 million, investors will receive investment units of MS-MONEY valued at THB 1,500 or the equivalent value (under the same conditions). Terms and conditions apply. For more information, please call Manulife Asset Management (Thailand) on 0-2354-1001 or one of the selling agents.
Find out more:
Manulife Asset Management (Thailand) Company Limited
364/30 Sri Ayudhya Road, Rajthevi, Bangkok 10400
Website: www.manulife-asset.co.th Telephone: 02.354-1002 or 02.246.7650 press 2 Facsimile: 02.642.6341
Media contacts:
Chutchada Ekahitanonda 02.246.7650 Ext 8615 or Direct Line 662.354.1006
Panwadee Pintuyothin 02.246.7650 Ext 8608