On Friday, PineBridge officially announced the PineBridge Asia ex Japan Small Cap Genesis Fund; the firm’s first equity offering in the Australian market.
The fund will seek to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing in smaller- to medium-sized companies in the Asia ex-Japan region and invest across the Australian market that boasts over 13,000 listed companies.
“Smaller companies are generally in the fastest-growing stage of their life cycle and offer compelling growth potential. With disciplined selectivity, this is a fertile hunting ground to capture forward-looking and innovative companies that could potentially be the Asian blue chips of tomorrow,” head of Asia ex-Japan equities and portfolio manager of the new fund, Elizabeth Soon, said.
“Compared to their larger counterparts, Asian small caps often are under-researched, which creates mispricing opportunities. Moreover, with technology increasingly altering business models, ownership in the profit pool of various industries is changing hands, and new winners are emerging.
“To this end, the fund seeks to unlock hidden value from underpriced but high-quality companies that can potentially compound capital over time.”
Ms Soon’s equity team is made up of 24 portfolio managers who have an average of 14 years’ industry experience.
“We are excited to bring this successful and award-winning equity strategy to Australia at a time when opportunities in the region are rapidly expanding,” PineBridge’s managing director and head of Australia, Clinton Grobler, said.
“We have a long history of high conviction investing in Asia dating back to the early 1990s and are pleased to leverage this deep experience, established local presence, and global research capabilities to capture shifts and emerging trends from the ground up for Australian investors.
“The fund offers access to a truly differentiated portfolio that we believe would be otherwise difficult to achieve without a seasoned, on-the-ground team of specialists like Elizabeth and our established equity team.”
