We have added JPM Asia Growth to our Recommended list.

The fund offers investors a high conviction Asian equity portfolio, through which the managers have an unswerving focus upon quality franchises with structural growth features.

It is managed by Joanna Kwok and Mark Davids, who are regional portfolio managers in JP Morgan Asset Management’s Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific team.  Philosophically, they believe that companies with sustainable/improving returns on capital and good management teams have the greatest potential for outperformance over the long term.

In identifying such companies, the managers work closely with the firm’s comprehensive research platform, drawing from country specialists, analysts, quantitative outputs and other portfolio managers.  As part of a multi-layered but organised process, sector analysts assess shareholder returns and competitive positions before classifying companies as “premium”, “quality” or “trading”.  The portfolio managers are primarily interested in the “premium” and “quality” companies for inclusion in this fund.

With its clear stylistic biases, the fund is likely to thrive when the market is rewarding companies with growth attributes.  This is typically the case when macro conditions are benign, markets are not dominated by a strong directional theme and company fundamentals are being recognised.  By the same token, the strategy is likely to struggle when low quality and/or value/cyclical stocks are in the vanguard.  Therefore, it is suited to investors who are seeking a high conviction, growth approach to Asian equities but equally, are prepared to accept associated variability in the fund’s relative risk and return outcome.