Blackstone raising at least $3 billion in first Asia PE fund: sources

Published by Reuters – 20th July 2017 

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Blackstone Group LP is seeking to raise up to $3 billion in its first Pan-Asia buyout fund for investments in sectors including high-end manufacturing and healthcare, people familiar with the plan told Reuters.

“As of 30 April 2017, the net asset value of the Sub-Fund was US$3,596,743 and it is not expected to grow in the near future,” the Hong Kong asset management firm stated in its letter to unitholders. The firm has ceased new subscriptions for the fund and will terminate the product in September.

Launched in 2006, the fund was managed by Mihail Dobrinov and Alan Xi Wang. It had ongoing annual charges of 3.12%.

The BRIC acronym – Brazil, Russia, India and China – was suggested by the then Goldman Sachs economist Lord O’Neill in 2001. The investment thesis based on parallel growth of these economies has since fallen apart with the political turmoil in Brazil and Russia’s economy suffering from low oil prices, while India and China are pushing ahead.

Yet there are still eight BRIC-themed funds, including two ETFs, available for sale in Hong Kong and Singapore, according to FE. The largest of them, the Schroder ISF BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) Fund, had $875m of assets under management at the end of June.

Country weighting of the MSCI BRIC Index

Source: MSCI

Three other funds lost authorisation for retail sales in Hong Kong last month, according to the Securities and Futures Commission. They are the Baring Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund, St. James’s Place Ethical Unit Trust, and the RHB ASEAN Navigator Fund.

The Baring Fund was terminated in May, after the merger between Baring Asset Management and Babson Capital Management “due to its small asset size”, according to the firm’s statement. Barings also liquidated its Asian Debt Fund last year.

The RHB fund was launched in 2014 in the SAR and had about $1m of assets under management a year ago, according to the fund’s factsheet.

The asset management arm of Malaysia-based RHB Investment Bank Berhad has another fund registered in Hong Kong, the RHB Islamic Regional Balanced Fund, according to FE.

Three-year performance of the three BRIC-theme funds available for sale in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The chart shows the best and the worst performers, as well as the to-be-closed Principal fund. They are compared to the reference MSCI BRIC Index benchmark, and to the average of the emerging market equity funds in Hong Kong.

Source: FE 

All fund NAVs have been converted to US dollars. Note that funds in this chart may be denominated in currencies other than the US dollar.

Published by Wealth Briefing Asia – 19th July 2017 

The investment house is launching a raft of funds for the Singapore market, and giving a debut to a multi-asset strategy in the jurisdiction at a time of uncertainties around global markets.

Published by Nikkei Asian Review – ‎19th‎ ‎July‎ ‎2017

HONG KONG – After years of lobbying by concern groups, Asia’s leading public institutional investors and a growing number of their private peers are embracing sustainable investing principles in their decision-making about which assets to buy and sell.

Published by Reuters – 18th July 2017 

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian sovereign investors are increasingly adding non-public firms to their portfolios amid pricey stock markets, a strategy that could be risky as they compete head-on for such deals with cashed-up private funds.

Published by The Straits Times – 18th July 2017 

SHANGHAI (BLOOMBERG) – As global stocks rally to new records, one part of China’s equity market is heading in the opposite direction.

Published by Singapore Business Review – 18th July 2017 

As things get disrupted within the Singaporean financial world with new tech, it’s no surprise that the way we use currency is being affected as well. In February, it was reported that Numerai— a new kind of hedge fund built by a network of data scientists—started issuing a new digital currency. Its aim? To turn Wall Street into a place where everyone’s on the same team. Could the same come to Singapore?

Published by Investment Week – 18th July 2017 

The global hedge fund industry averaged positive returns for each of the first six months of the year for the first time since 2007, according to data provider Preqin.

Published by Wealth Briefing Asia – 18th July 2017 

One of the biggest beasts in global financial services reported that AuM grew further and net income increased in the second quarter of this year.