Ashmore Investment Management Limited (“Ashmore”), one of the world’s largest specialist managers of Emerging Market (“EM”) debt and equity securities, with assets under management of US$77.7billion* today announced that its Turkish Debt Fund and Brasil Equity Fund have been registered as SICAVs. The funds will now be available to institutional and retail investors.
The Ashmore Turkish Debt Fund targets total return through active management of a diversified portfolio of Turkish debt and other instruments. The fund invests primarily in Turkish local currency sovereign bonds, supplemented by corporate debt.
The Ashmore Brasil Equity Fund is an actively managed long only fund investing in Brazilian equities and equity-linked instruments. It aims to outperform the MSCI Brazil index by adopting an active management style that combines dynamic allocation via bottom-up stock picking approach, which is complemented by Ashmore Group’s top-down views. Allocation is focused on liquid stocks although less liquid names may be added to the portfolio where the investment case is compelling.
Both Turkey and Brazil offer interesting opportunities for investors.
Turkey’s attractive public debt to GDP ratio compares well to the fundamentals of the HIDCs (“Heavily Indebted Developed Countries”). Furthermore, developing corporate bond markets offer opportunities for yield enhancement.
Brazil’s ongoing infrastructure investment plan, together with strong domestic consumption driven by the secular growth of the middle class offers attractive opportunities.
Both funds will continue to provide long term capital growth and remain available to institutional investors.
Commenting on the announcement, Christoph Hofmann, Ashmore’s Global Head of Distribution said:
“Ashmore has a 20 year track record of investing in Emerging Markets. The Turkish Debt Fund and Brasil Equity Fund were previously available in other jurisdictions. Our decision to redomicile these funds to our Luxembourg SICAV is part of our ongoing strategy to make our funds available through easily accessible vehicles. There are exciting investment opportunities in Turkey and Brazil and the SICAV funds bring our expertise in EM to a broader audience.
“The fund broadens the range of Ashmore’s Emerging Markets SICAV product offering which includes debt and equity themes, now available to investors through Ashmore’s comprehensive Luxembourg SICAV platform.”
The two SICAV Funds are open-ended, UCITS IV Luxembourg registered funds, offering daily dealing. They are registered for sale in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK and available in share class denominations in US dollars, Euros, UK sterling and other currencies.
* Assets under Management as of 31 March 2013
Ashmore is one of the world’s leading investment management groups dedicated to Emerging Markets. The business was founded in 1992 as part of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. In 1999, Ashmore became independent and today manages $71.0 billion (as of 31 December 2012) in pooled funds, segregated accounts and structured products. Ashmore focuses on a number of Emerging Markets investment themes including external debt, local currency, corporate debt, blended debt, equity, alternatives (special situations, infrastructure and real estate), overlay / liquidity, and multi-strategy products.
Ashmore Group plc (ASHM:LN) is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 250 Index. The company is majority-owned by its employees. Ashmore is headquartered in London, England and has offices in Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, and the United States.