Picking through the wreckage of Asian real estate
1 May, 2008Asiamoney Top 10: transportation (includes Orient Overseas and Thai Thoresen profiles)
1 May, 2008Roadtest
Zurich Investments Global Thematic Share Fund
Theme-based global equities fund
Performance
Good. Among the 269 funds in Morningstar’s “global large cap – blend” category, meaning global equities funds that invest in big stocks without a distinct value or growth style, it ranks top over three years, at 11.62%. Looks much less rosy recently – down 4.88% for the year to March 31, and down 10.24% in the last six months – but then, so does almost everything.
Holdings
The style is to follow a series of themes, such as investing in providers of materials who can’t be squeezed by any other part of the value chain (“ultimate subcontractors”) or companies placed to benefit from shifts of intergenerational assets or rising gold. Management is done for Zurich by Lazard Asset Management; in Lazard’s own fund, biggest contributors to performance in recent months have been China Overseas Land, Apache, Goldcorp and Deutsche Postbank. Overweight Asia relative to benchmark.
Experience
Lazard has been a pioneer in this style of investing.
Gripes
Can only hedge 40% of holdings against movements in the currency; in a rising Australian dollar environment that can leave you exposed. Fee is quite high.
Fees
In the retail version available through Zurich, in which you can invest with as little as $1000, fee is 2.05%.
Verdict
An interesting approach to investment that appears to work over the long term (they recommend a seven year timeframe) but getting kicked like everyone else in the last six months.
