Bangkok--8 Dec--Aberdeen Asset Management
Aberdeen Asset Management Co.,Ltd. today announced that its first European fund, the Aberdeen European Growth Fund raised over Baht 1.2 billion during its fixed price launch which ended last Friday.
Robert Penaloza, the company’s deputy CEO, said the response was huge given the potential adverse impact of a rising baht and intentionally limited distribution so far.
“We targeted the more sophisticated investors because we realise that Europe is not the first port of call for investors diversifying overseas. But the message is that Europe is recovering, companies are restructuring and creating value for shareholders — and this was very well received,” he said.
The Fund invests into a Luxembourg master fund that is run by Aberdeen’s UK-based investment team. The master fund’s investments straddle the UK and the Continent, and include MNCs and mid-sized companies, many of which are household names.
“When investors recognise the names of companies we hold, they gain a lot more comfort. We’ve also been able to show that valuations are attractive relative to Asia and the US, so this reinforces the argument for diversification and the case for specialist regional exposure,” added Penaloza.
Penaloza emphasised Thailand’s importance as a retail market for the Aberdeen group and the benefit of having managers describe their approach and answer questions from investors direct. Aberdeen brought two investment managers to Bangkok, James Laing and Charles Luke, to brief distributors and private investors.
“One clear advantage is that we are running our own funds and our investment managers are entirely accountable to us. This is something we can capitalise on in our service to investors as well.”
Aberdeen’s FIF funds, whose first two offerings were an Asian and then global equity fund, now stand at THB 4.6 bn .
“We are consciously targeting ourselves in Thailand as the FIF provider of default, since we have the advantages of being an independent, global group with expertise across core asset classes,” continued Penaloza.
He is optimistic of raising further funds and is in discussions with the SEC to seek an expansion of its USD allocation to enable further FIF subscriptions.
Having targeted high net-worth individuals via Citibank N.A and Phatra Securities, Aberdeen will reopen the Fund for investors via its 20 other selling agents, beginning on December 12th 2006. The minimum subscription is 5,000 baht with front-end fee of 1.50 %.
* Information as at 6th December 2006
Notes
Aberdeen Asset Management Company Limited is part of the Aberdeen Group which manages US$141 billion (information as at 31October 2006) worldwide. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, the Group has 89 fund managers and 25 offices globally.
Investment has certain financial risks involved. Investors should study the fund’s prospectus before making a decision to invest.
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