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New Mirae Fund To Tap Emerging Market Spenders
Tara Loader Wilkinson
5 February 2012
Mirae
Asset Global Investments, the investment advisor, has launched a new fund to tap
the swelling consumer population in the emerging markets, as investors continue
to seek opportunities in growth regions. The
Global Great Consumer Fund invests in both emerging and developed markets, and
is the first time the firm has offered developed-market exposure in one of its
US funds. "Despite
ongoing volatility, investors continue to focus on investment opportunities
outside the US. Our Global Great Consumer Fund seeks companies poised to
benefit from the rapid growth in emerging markets, regardless of whether those
companies are headquartered in the emerging markets or the developed markets,”
said Joon Kwun, president and chief executive of Mirae Asset Global Investments
(USA). The
firm defines Great Consumer as the collective direct and indirect economic
effect resulting from increased consumption activities and growing purchasing
power of individuals within the world's emerging markets. The Great Consumer fund invests in companies that will benefit from the secular
change in consumption patterns taking place in the world's developing
economies, said Mirae. In a report released last year by Mirae Asset, the firm noted that the
emerging markets' average household savings rate is 19 per cent, well above
the developed markets' average of 9.7 per cent. In terms of age, the average
median age of the population in the emerging markets is 30.6 years, notably
below the average median age of the population in developed markets, 40.5
years. The
report also showed that the size of emerging markets populations are collectively
about five times the populations in global developed markets. Moreover, rates
of population increases in emerging markets are expected to be ten times those
of developed markets between 2010 and 2015.