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
SOURCE﹛Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd.