Published by InvestmentWeek – 3rd February 2015
Fidelity’s South East Asia fund manager Allan Liu is to retire later this year after 27 years of running active funds.
The manager previously stepped back from running the group’s onshore £1.8bn South East Asia fund in 2013, handing it to Teera Chanpongsang.
Liu is now to relinquish lead fund management responsibilities on the group’s offshore South East Asia fund on 1 March, ahead of his retirement in June.
Dhananjay Phadnis, who has been managing Asian funds since 2008 and has spent 10 years at Fidelity, will succeed Liu on the SICAV fund. The pair will work together until the end of February to ensure a smooth transition.
Fidelity is also changing the fund’s reference index from the MSCI All Country Far East ex-Japan Index to the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index on 30 March to allow exposure to India.
Square Mile has removed the Fidelity Funds South East Asia SICAV from its Academy of Funds as a result of Liu’s departure. It previously had an AA rating.
Morningstar, meanwhile, has placed the fund under review, saying it expects Phadnis to “make significant changes to Liu’s portfolio, including reducing the number of positions while increasing active share.”
AUM in the onshore fund stood at £2.8bn prior to Liu stepping back at the end of 2013, but assets have now fallen by £1bn.
However, it remains a top quartile performer over one, three and five years, according to Morningstar figures. Over the past year to 16 January the fund returned 14.3%, compared to the sector average of 8.6%.
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