Matthews Asia Commences Managing the Fund
As of January 1, 2019, Matthews International Capital Management, LLC (“Matthews Asia”) commenced managing the Fund’s portfolio as its Investment Manager.
Matthews Asia is an independent, privately owned investment management firm and the largest dedicated Asia-only investment specialist in the U.S. Headquartered in San Francisco, Matthews Asia has focused its efforts and expertise within the Asia region, investing through a variety of market environments, since 1991. The firm also has offices in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. As of September 30, 2018, its total assets under management amounted to US$32.5 billion, including US$7 billion invested in China securities, across multiple strategies.
Matthews Asia will provide the Fund with an “All China” investment strategy. The strategy follows a Growth at a Reasonable Price approach while adhering to the firm's overarching investment philosophy based on the following three pillars: active management, long-term focus and on-the-ground bottom-up research. With Matthews Asia now managing the Fund’s portfolio, the Fund’s benchmark index will change from the MSCI Golden Dragon Index to the MSCI China All Shares Index.
Matthews Asia's China strategies seek to own businesses that stand to benefit from domestic consumption generated by rising personal wealth among Chinese consumers. Today, that means companies in a wide variety of sectors, as consumer spending patterns have evolved from basic goods and necessities to more discretionary, high-end products and services. The portfolio management team pays particular attention to domestically oriented sectors such as health care, information technology, financial services, consumer discretionary and consumer staples, and generally has low exposure to cyclical businesses such as commodities and materials companies.
The firm's investment style is benchmark-agnostic and seeks to invest in high-quality businesses that have the ability to survive and generate sustainable earnings and cash flow through economic and market cycles. As a result, Matthews Asia's investment team favors companies with sound fundamentals, a competitive advantage and market position, as well as pricing power combined with balance sheet strength. Matthews Asia conducts extensive due diligence with a focus on corporate governance, to ensure that it invests with competent management teams whose interests are aligned with that of minority shareholders; who have demonstrated the ability to meet business targets and milestones; and whose businesses are attractively valued.
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