Sub-prime woes may derail Phillip target
Bangkok Post (17 October 2007)
Phillip Asset Management Co (PAMC) expects that its assets under management will slightly miss its target of 500 million baht by the end of this year due to the impact from the US sub-prime crisis. The newly established asset manager set a high hope on the launch of its first foreign investment fund, which was expected to boost the assets close to its projection. Vattana Vongseenin, the company's CEO, said the assets under management were very small because when it introduced the first two mutual funds, the Phillip long-term equity fund (P-LTF) and Phillip money market fund (PCASH), investors' sentiment was clouded by the US sub-prime mortgage problems. PAMC could raise only seven million baht from P-LTF and 63 million baht from PCASH. Currently, its total assets stood at 70 million baht. ''The timing for the launches of our first two funds was bad, as investors were not interested in making any new investments at the time. Anyway, the new FIF will help us increase assets by another 350 million baht,'' Mr Vattana said yesterday. The company is now opening the subscription of its Phillip Asia Pacific Fund (PAP) until Oct 31. The FIF will invest in Phillip Asia Pacific Growth Fund managed by Phillip Capital Management (S) Ltd in Singapore. The master fund, with assets totalling S$21.21 million, has invested over 90% of its portfolio into North Asian and Asean stocks and the balance in debt instruments in Asia Pacific. It could generate a 21.2% return for the past 12 months. Of the total assets, 15.7% were in Malaysia, 14.4% in Singapore, 13% in Hong Kong and China, 12.9% in Japan and 7.3% in Thailand. Jeffrey Lee, chief investment officer of PhillipCapital Management in Singapore, said Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan had a lot of upside potential over the next 12 months. ''Asia is the world's fastest-growing area. Several emerging Asian markets are booming on the back of local consumption and infrastructure investments. When the US economy is slowing down, many countries have been less affected,'' he said. Recently, many Asian countries have reduced their dependence on exports to the US by increasing exports to other Asian countries, especially China and India, which import a lot of commodities, including oil and coal, as well as food such as prawns and chicken. Mr Lee predicted that foreign funds would continue to flow into Asia after the US Federal Reserve has cut its fed fund rate. Commenting on the Thai stock market, he said PhillipCapital was bullish on the country. Thai shares have the most affordable valuations, given its price-to-earnings ratio of 12-13 times and dividend yields above 4%. ''Even though the coup took place last September, Thai corporate earnings have still grown. In my opinion, it is a great timing to invest in stocks after the coup. Some foreign fund managers may want sit on the sidelines until everything clears up. But it will be too late, as prices will no longer be cheap,'' he said. PhillipCapital saw this great opportunity and introduced a Thailand fund worth US$50 million to attract Japanese investors since early this year. The fund has yielded more than 35% to date. ''We will increase our weighting in Thailand and invest more soon. The political situation will improve after the election and the forming of a new government and some policies will be imposed to boost economic activities for sure,'' Mr Lee said.
Bangkok Post (17 October 2007)
Phillip Asset Management Co (PAMC) expects that its assets under management will slightly miss its target of 500 million baht by the end of this year due to the impact from the US sub-prime crisis. The newly established asset manager set a high hope on the launch of its first foreign investment fund, which was expected to boost the assets close to its projection. Vattana Vongseenin, the company's CEO, said the assets under management were very small because when it introduced the first two mutual funds, the Phillip long-term equity fund (P-LTF) and Phillip money market fund (PCASH), investors' sentiment was clouded by the US sub-prime mortgage problems. PAMC could raise only seven million baht from P-LTF and 63 million baht from PCASH. Currently, its total assets stood at 70 million baht. ''The timing for the launches of our first two funds was bad, as investors were not interested in making any new investments at the time. Anyway, the new FIF will help us increase assets by another 350 million baht,'' Mr Vattana said yesterday. The company is now opening the subscription of its Phillip Asia Pacific Fund (PAP) until Oct 31. The FIF will invest in Phillip Asia Pacific Growth Fund managed by Phillip Capital Management (S) Ltd in Singapore. The master fund, with assets totalling S$21.21 million, has invested over 90% of its portfolio into North Asian and Asean stocks and the balance in debt instruments in Asia Pacific. It could generate a 21.2% return for the past 12 months. Of the total assets, 15.7% were in Malaysia, 14.4% in Singapore, 13% in Hong Kong and China, 12.9% in Japan and 7.3% in Thailand. Jeffrey Lee, chief investment officer of PhillipCapital Management in Singapore, said Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan had a lot of upside potential over the next 12 months. ''Asia is the world's fastest-growing area. Several emerging Asian markets are booming on the back of local consumption and infrastructure investments. When the US economy is slowing down, many countries have been less affected,'' he said. Recently, many Asian countries have reduced their dependence on exports to the US by increasing exports to other Asian countries, especially China and India, which import a lot of commodities, including oil and coal, as well as food such as prawns and chicken. Mr Lee predicted that foreign funds would continue to flow into Asia after the US Federal Reserve has cut its fed fund rate. Commenting on the Thai stock market, he said PhillipCapital was bullish on the country. Thai shares have the most affordable valuations, given its price-to-earnings ratio of 12-13 times and dividend yields above 4%. ''Even though the coup took place last September, Thai corporate earnings have still grown. In my opinion, it is a great timing to invest in stocks after the coup. Some foreign fund managers may want sit on the sidelines until everything clears up. But it will be too late, as prices will no longer be cheap,'' he said. PhillipCapital saw this great opportunity and introduced a Thailand fund worth US$50 million to attract Japanese investors since early this year. The fund has yielded more than 35% to date. ''We will increase our weighting in Thailand and invest more soon. The political situation will improve after the election and the forming of a new government and some policies will be imposed to boost economic activities for sure,'' Mr Lee said.
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