SINGAPORE, HONG KONG and SEOUL, South Korea, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd. (Nikko AM) today announced its appointment as the actual investment manager of a NYSE listed mutual fund for Greater China (the Fund).
The Board of the Fund has acknowledged that Nikko AM has the ideal market positioning and required expertise to manage assets invested in the greater China region. The firm has a history as the first asset management company granted QFII (1) status, and the first foreign asset management company to offer a China A-share fund outside China. The Portfolio Manager of the strategy will be Mr. Kwok-On Fung, head of the China Fund Management Team. Nikko AM will provide proprietary research and portfolio management services, while also assisting in the marketing of the Fund to US investors, via US financial intermediaries.
Nikko AM was appointed following a meeting of the Fund's shareholders in New York on Friday 27th May, while the shareholders also approved the Board's recommendation to convert the Fund from a closed-end investment company to an open-end investment company, which is expected to occur later this year. Simultaneously, the investment remit of the Fund has been broadened to invest in companies in the greater China region, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the People's Republic of China. This reflects the wider range of investment opportunities available.
Blair Pickerell, Head of Asia and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Nikko Asset Management Group(2), commented: "For more than 50 years, Nikko AM has been dedicated to understanding and meeting the needs of investors in the Asia-Pacific region and helping global investors enter this market. Greater China is home to some of the world's strongest and fastest growing economies. Over the next 20 years, Greater China will continue to grow to a point where it will exceed a quarter of the world's GDP. Today, it is less than 10%. This growth presents a major opportunity for investors and one that will increasingly become important as a core portfolio holding."
Nikko AM's appointment follows the announcement last December that it had reached an agreement with DBS Bank Ltd to acquire DBS Asset Management, the asset management arm of DBS Bank, and one of South East Asia's leading investment management firms. This development followed after Nikko AM signed an agreement to acquire Tyndall Investments, a leading investment management firm in Australia and New Zealand. The transactions significantly broaden the firm's investment platforms and distribution capabilities across Asia, while bringing the firm's total AUM to over US$160 billion. Nikko AM is already a 40% shareholder of Rongtong Fund Management Company, the 6th largest Sino-foreign joint venture fund management company in China.
(1) Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors
(2 ) Nikko Asset Management Group stands for Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd. and its group companies
About Nikko Asset Management
Nikko Asset Management (Nikko AM) is a leading Asian investment management company. Headquartered in Tokyo, Nikko AM has total AUM of approximately US$154 billion as of March 2011, with the planned DBSAM acquisition increasing this by US$7billion.
Established in 1959, Nikko AM is one of the largest asset management companies in Japan, with its investment products sold by over 200 distributors in Asia and with local operations in seven countries and regions. The firm also has offices in London, New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and its recent acquisition of Tyndall Investments added Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Auckland to Nikko AM's global footprint. Nikko AM also has a 40% stake in Rongtong Fund Management Company, one of the largest Sino-foreign joint venture investment management companies in China.
Nikko AM offers retail and institutional investors access to a wide range of investment strategies, including equities and fixed income as well as traditional and alternative asset classes in multiple markets, developed and emerging. The company operates with a "multi local" approach, giving management in each market a high degree of autonomy to address local market conditions and client service needs, which the firm believes vary widely from market to market.
Nikko AM's stable management team has significant Asian regional and global expertise which has been key in achieving growth. Nikko AM has been awarded a number of prestigious awards including in 2010 the Lipper Fund Award in the Equity Asia Pacific Ex Japan Category over 3 years and the Global Investor for Investment Excellence in Japanese Equities.
Since 2009 Nikko AM has been owned by The Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. Ltd. and by its employees. Nikko AM continues to operate independently. For more information, please visit http://en.nikkoam.com.
Important Information:
This release is for information purposes only and is not intended to be an offer, or a solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any investments. This document should not be regarded as investment advice. In making any investment decision, prospective investors must rely on their own examination of the merits and risks involved.
For inquiries, please contact:
Hong Kong
Walek & Associates
Sophie Sophaon
Tel.: +852-2273-5102
Tokyo
Corporate Communications Department
Kyoko Wada
Tel. +81-3-6447-6117
