Pictet Asian Equities (Ex-Japan) Fund Smiles On Financials

Tom Burroughes

2 November 2021

An Asian equity markets equity portfolio run by ask what you are paying for,” she said, adding that some valuations being logged are “eye-watering.”

However, she said that there are ways of entering the clean-tech/renewables space, such as “green buildings” and tertiary services.

The Pictet Asian Equities Ex-Japan fund, available as a European UCITS structure and domiciled in Luxembourg, was launched on 10 October 2017, with a management fee of 0.7 per cent. The fund has chalked up annualised gains of 8.06 per cent (data for the sterling share class), on an annualised basis from inception, beating the reference index of 5.85 per cent. Cumulatively, it has made a 36.33 per cent gain from inception, ahead of the reference index, according to its 30 September 2021 factsheet.

The largest holding by share of the fund (9.16 per cent) is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, followed by Samsung Electronics Co (6.07 per cent), and Alibaba Group Holding (6.06 per cent). Financials in the mix include Icici Bank (2.97 per cent) and Hdfc Bank (2.86 per cent), and Sea Ltd (3.3 per cent). In the case of the last-mentioned firm, Sea is a platform for businesses involved in payments, e-commerce and gaming.

IT is the largest sector overall in the fund – 30.92 per cent – ahead of financials, at 26.65 per cent.

Returning to financials, Nandra mentioned sectors that she likes such as leasing companies, Indian vehicle financing companies and insurers. Some large banks are not lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises, so smaller firms can fill the gap.