<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Temasek unit, SBI launch new fund
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Fund will invest in undervalued Asian companies and banks </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Robin Chan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TEMASEK Holdings' unit, Fullerton Fund Management, sees opportunity in the global credit crisis.
It has launched a new fund with Japan's SBI Holdings to invest in undervalued Asian financial institutions whose prices have been hit by the recent turbulence.
Unveiled yesterday, the fund will invest in banks and companies in the region, excluding Japan. To kick off the fund, Fullerton and SBI have already raised US$30 million (S$43.3 million) each.
They hope to raise assets under their management to US$100 million by May next year, Fullerton said in a statement.
The move comes at a time when Asian stocks are taking a beating.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Financials Index, covering 232 regional stocks, has fallen by 38 per cent during the past year in the global selldown sparked by the credit crisis in which global banks have written off more than US$580 billion in losses.
Ms Chan Chia Lin, the chief investment officer of Fullerton, said: 'Valuations on banking stocks in the region have become more attractive.'
Fullerton senior vice-president Teo Joo Wah told The Straits Times that he saw a potential recovery in the markets despite an outlook of slow economic growth.
Medium- to long-term investors in the fund can make attractive returns within the next year and a half, he said, identifying Chinese banks and insurance companies as investment targets of the fund.
The new Fullerton Asian Financials Fund will be established as a Singapore-based unit trust master fund managed by Fullerton's 16 country specialists. SBI Asset Management will manage a feeder fund in Japan.
Fullerton is Temasek's former in-house fund manager, spun off as a separate company in 2003. It has been in expansion mode this year.
Last month, it teamed up with China's Bosera Asset Management to expand its reach into the mainland market.
In April, it started a new Middle East and North Africa fund with Middle East investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, which was expected to raise US$160 million.
It also teamed up with another Japanese partner, Nomura Asset Management, in the launch of a V-Asean fund last May that targeted South-east Asian stocks.
Fullerton manages undisclosed assets in excess of US$10 billion on behalf of Temasek and third parties.
Its assets under management could expand 50 per cent within three years, chief executive Gerard Lee said last month.
SBI is one of Japan's largest distributors of financial services and is the core company under the SBI Group - a group with assets under management of 627.1 billion yen (S$8.5 billion) as at March this year. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Fund will invest in undervalued Asian companies and banks </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Robin Chan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TEMASEK Holdings' unit, Fullerton Fund Management, sees opportunity in the global credit crisis.
It has launched a new fund with Japan's SBI Holdings to invest in undervalued Asian financial institutions whose prices have been hit by the recent turbulence.
Unveiled yesterday, the fund will invest in banks and companies in the region, excluding Japan. To kick off the fund, Fullerton and SBI have already raised US$30 million (S$43.3 million) each.
They hope to raise assets under their management to US$100 million by May next year, Fullerton said in a statement.
The move comes at a time when Asian stocks are taking a beating.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Financials Index, covering 232 regional stocks, has fallen by 38 per cent during the past year in the global selldown sparked by the credit crisis in which global banks have written off more than US$580 billion in losses.
Ms Chan Chia Lin, the chief investment officer of Fullerton, said: 'Valuations on banking stocks in the region have become more attractive.'
Fullerton senior vice-president Teo Joo Wah told The Straits Times that he saw a potential recovery in the markets despite an outlook of slow economic growth.
Medium- to long-term investors in the fund can make attractive returns within the next year and a half, he said, identifying Chinese banks and insurance companies as investment targets of the fund.
The new Fullerton Asian Financials Fund will be established as a Singapore-based unit trust master fund managed by Fullerton's 16 country specialists. SBI Asset Management will manage a feeder fund in Japan.
Fullerton is Temasek's former in-house fund manager, spun off as a separate company in 2003. It has been in expansion mode this year.
Last month, it teamed up with China's Bosera Asset Management to expand its reach into the mainland market.
In April, it started a new Middle East and North Africa fund with Middle East investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, which was expected to raise US$160 million.
It also teamed up with another Japanese partner, Nomura Asset Management, in the launch of a V-Asean fund last May that targeted South-east Asian stocks.
Fullerton manages undisclosed assets in excess of US$10 billion on behalf of Temasek and third parties.
Its assets under management could expand 50 per cent within three years, chief executive Gerard Lee said last month.
SBI is one of Japan's largest distributors of financial services and is the core company under the SBI Group - a group with assets under management of 627.1 billion yen (S$8.5 billion) as at March this year. [email protected]
