Hedge Fund Awards 2014

Since inception the fund has been consistently resilient during periods of significant market downturns which can be attributed to good stock selection and a portfolio that has a very low correlation with world markets. It has out- performed the benchmark generating returns of 11.8% for investors over the past year and as of 30 January 2014 the fund is up a further 8.1%. The investment strategy com- bines a top-down and bottom-up approach, taking advan- tage of both growth and value opportunities in consumer, infrastructure and financial stocks. Mr Hugger says: “Frontier markets in Asia are going to be the growth story of the next two decades and investors in our fund are getting in ahead of the crowd. Frontier markets in Asia offer the opportunity to invest in the ‘next China’ be- fore stock and asset prices rise. We invest in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam because they are all at a similar stage of economic development as China 25 years ago or Thailand 40 years ago. “Today it might sound unusual to invest in a place like Ban- gladesh in anticipation of the country becoming a major industrial hub, but their market is developing quickly and the country is strategically located. Twenty-five years ago people were saying it was risky to invest in China but their economy grew by around 10% per year for more than 20 years, making China the second largest economy in the world today.” Mr Hugger explains that every day in China entrepreneurs can be seen shutting down factories in Guangdong prov- ince and moving them to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myan- mar and Vietnam. He thinks that this is a new important trend in the development of ‘Emerging Asia’ which has just started and will last for the next decades and Asia Frontier Capital’s investors are already positioned to benefit from this important shift. When allocating capital AFC researches and finds oppor- tunities others have not been looking for. This niche strat- egy finds small and mid-cap opportunities that large fund management companies are forced to screen out due to their liquidity constraints. Asian frontier markets are at- www.acquisition-intl.com 2014 International Hedge Fund Awards Asia Frontier Capital Limited tracting attention from international investors, reinforcing the confidence AFC has in its strategy and the countries it invests in. On winning the award Mr Hugger says: “To be honest I never set up the AFC Asia Frontier Fund to win awards or garner industry attention. I am very pleased to have our fund recognized but the most important thing is to keep bringing excellent returns to our investors. I am looking for- ward to next year’s awards; hopefully we will be nominated for ‘best performing fund in Asia’. “Since we are a boutique fund management company we will focus on an individualized service so if our investors want to know about our markets all they need to do is pick up the phone or send us an email. With this in mind we will have to stop accepting new investors at some stage in the future as we are planning to keep the fund at a boutique size. We can then focus on generating superior returns whilst working with a core group of investors over the com- ing years.” Fact File “To be honest I never set up the AFC Asia Frontier Fund to win awards or garner industry attention. I am very pleased to have our fund recognized but the most important thing is to keep bringing excellent returns to our investors. I am looking forward to next year’s awards; hopefully we will be nominated for ‘best performing fund in Asia’.” Company: Asia Frontier Capital Limited Name: Thomas Hugger Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.asiafrontiercapital.com Address: Asia Frontier Investments Ltd., Room 1208, 12th Floor, Loon Kee Building, 267-275 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong Telephone: +852 3904 1015 Thomas Hugger is CEO and fund manager at Asia Frontier Capital Limited (AFC), which offers two funds: the AFC Asia Frontier Fund and the AFC Vietnam Fund. The AFC Asia Frontier Fund invests in public equities in fast growing Asian frontier countries and is positioned to take advantage of the continuing economic shifts in these countries, offering high returns combined with significant diversification op- portunities. New Launch of the Year - AFC Asia Frontier Fund 18