About Southeast Asia
The Martin Currie Southeast Asia strategy seeks strategy seeks to deliver index outperformance through a high conviction portfolio of high-quality companies, with a strong valuation discipline.
The strategy seeks provide capital growth by investing in a select group of businesses in this fast growing and rapidly changing region. Our approach is to construct a focused portfolio consisting of companies that offer an attractive combination of quality, growth and valuation.
We invest for the long-term, paying close attention to the governance profile of companies this is combined with risk-aware portfolio construction focused on high conviction active positions.
Our philosophy is that stock-focused portfolios, driven by fundamental research, are the best way to exploit market opportunities and generate consistent outperformance.
We focus on finding higher-quality businesses with favourable prospects, sound financials and the ability to generate healthy cashflow. We believe that an appreciation of the quality of management and the incentives influencing their capital allocation decisions helps us make better investment choices. Understanding a company's governance profile is central to this. Importantly these businesses must be available to us at a reasonable valuation to warrant inclusion in the portfolio.
As our emphasis is on understanding individual companies we expect to add most value through stock selection. Conviction in portfolio holdings is regularly tested through monitoring of the business environment, new idea generation and company contact.
Our portfolio construction aims to ensure that our high-conviction investment ideas are appropriately reflected in individual weightings, while maintaining an effective degree of sector and country diversification and managing sensitivity to wider macro factors.
Portfolio characteristics | Southeast Asia |
---|---|
Benchmark | MSCI AC ASEAN |
Performance objective | Outperform the MSCI ASEAN on a rolling five year basis |
Market capitalisation | All-Cap |
Sector/country allocations | As a result of stock selection, managed within factor risk analysis |
Country allocations | Index +/-15% |
Number of stocks | Typical range 40-70 |
Maximum active stock weight | Index + 5% |
Inception | September 2017* |
*Martin Currie assumed management of the strategy on 1 August 2017, the performance start date of 1 September 2017 reflects the period to reposition the portfolio from the previous investment manager.
Our approach is to construct a focused portfolio consisting of companies that offer an attractive combination of quality, growth and valuation.
Andrew Graham
Head of Asia
Investment team
The Asia team combines a range of experience gained from different industry backgrounds including portfolio management, accountancy and private equity. Their approach is collegiate and all members of the Asia team share the responsibility for idea generation, stock research and portfolio construction.

Andrew Graham
- Job title
- Head of Asia
- Experience
- 33 years

Paul Danes
- Job title
- Portfolio Manager
- Experience
- 27 years

Damian Taylor
- Job title
- Portfolio Manager
- Experience
- 20 years

Michael Millar
- Job title
- Portfolio Manager
- Experience
- 26 years

Tom Wills
- Job title
- Portfolio Manager
- Experience
- 8 years

Zhang Yu
- Job title
- Investment Analyst
- Experience
- 2 years
Strategy factsheet
Strategy composite, net of fees (US$)
30 September 2020 | Three months (%) | One year (%) | Three years (% p.a.) | Five years (% p.a.) | Since inception (% p.a.) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Southeast Asia strategy | (5.4) | (20.8) | (8.1) | - | (7.4) |
MSCI AC ASEAN | (4.7) | (19.5) | (5.8) | - | (5.5) |
Relative return | (0.7) | (1.7) | (2.4) | - | (2.0) |
Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Data calculated in US$ net of fees. The return may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.
Source: Martin Currie as at 30 September 2020. Data shown is for the Martin Currie Southeast Asia strategy composite (US$). Data is presented net of investment advisory fees, broker commissions, and all other expenses borne by investors. An annual fee rate of 0.75% has been used in the presentation of net performance data. This is our standard fee offering for a US$100 million mandate for this strategy. The figures provided include the re-investment of dividends. Relative calculation is geometric. Martin Currie assumed management of the strategy on 1 August 2017, the performance start date of 1 September 2017 reflects the period to reposition the portfolio from the previous investment manager.
This performance record is a clear representation of the Martin Currie Southeast Asia strategy performance over the periods shown. Performance information showing five years (or since inception) in complete 12-month periods is available upon request. This data is supplementary to the GIPS disclosures provided in the appendix of this document.
Largest positions
Stock | Active weight (%) |
---|---|
United Overseas Bank | 4.3 |
PTT PCL | 4.2 |
Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur | 3.4 |
Ascendas Real Estate | 3.3 |
Singapore Technologies Engineering | 3.2 |
Venture | 3.2 |
Ayala | 2.7 |
Century Pacific | 2.2 |
Bermaz Auto | 2.0 |
GT Capital | 2.0 |
Stock attribution
Top five contributors Q3 2020 | Contribution to relative return (%) |
---|---|
Venture | 0.9 |
Century Pacific | 0.4 |
Singapore Technologies Engineering | 0.4 |
Ascendas Real Estate | 0.4 |
PTT | 0.3 |
Bottom five contributors Q3 2020 | Contribution to relative return (%) |
---|---|
Top Glove | (0.8) |
PTT PCL | (0.6) |
Mitra Adiperkasa | (0.5) |
Media Nusantara Citra | (0.4) |
HARTALEGA HOLDINGS | (0.3) |
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
Source: Martin Currie as at 30 September 2020. Data shown is for the Martin Currie Southeast Asia representative account. Relative calculation is geometric. MSCI AC ASEAN Index used as benchmark.
The information provided should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell any particular security. It should not be assumed that any of the security transactions discussed here were, or will prove to be, profitable.
Sector exposure
Sector | Portfolio (%) | Index (%) |
---|---|---|
Financials | 26.1 | 31.7 |
Consumer Staples | 17.0 | 11.8 |
Communication Services | 11.2 | 9.5 |
Industrials | 11.0 | 10.5 |
Real Estate | 10.1 | 10.3 |
Consumer Discretionary | 8.7 | 4.6 |
Energy | 5.4 | 5.2 |
Information Technology | 4.0 | 0.8 |
Materials | 3.1 | 4.6 |
Utilities | 1.8 | 4.4 |
Cash | 1.6 | 0.0 |
Country exposure
Country | Portfolio (%) | Index (%) |
---|---|---|
Singapore | 29.9 | 29.0 |
Indonesia | 22.4 | 16.1 |
Thailand | 16.0 | 22.9 |
Philippines | 15.8 | 9.6 |
Malaysia | 11.2 | 22.4 |
Hong Kong | 3.1 | 0.0 |
Cash | 1.6 | 0.0 |
Source: Martin Currie as at 30 September 2020. Data shown is for the Martin Currie Southeast Asia representative account. MSCI AC ASEAN Index used as benchmark.
Risk profile
Three years | Five Years | Seven years | |
---|---|---|---|
Tracking Error | 4.0 | - | - |
Portfolio Volatility | 21.5 | - | - |
Index Volatility | 19.3 | 16.8 | 15.8 |
Information Ratio | (0.4) | - | - |
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
Source: Martin Currie as at 30 September 2020. Data shown is for the Martin Currie Southeast Asia representative account. MSCI AC ASEAN Index used as benchmark.
Tracking error is the annualised standard deviation of the portfolio relative returns. Portfolio volatility is the annualised standard deviation of the portfolio returns. Index volatility is the annualised standard deviation of the index returns. Information ratio is the relative return of the portfolio divided by the tracking error.
To minimise value destruction resulting from poor corporate capital allocation decisions, we pay close attention to the governance profile of a company.
How to invest
Through our parent company, Franklin Templeton, investors are offered access to a segregated account or a range of pooled vehicles.
Please contact us to discuss the most appropriate investment to meet your requirements.
How to invest
Martin Currie is a Specialist Investment Manager of Franklin Resources Inc, operating as Franklin Templeton.
Franklin Templeton is responsible for the sales and client service of our funds for financial advisers and individual investors.
If you would like to find out more about these funds, please visit the Franklin Templeton website.
How to invest
Martin Currie is a ‘Specialist Investment Manager’ within the Franklin Templeton group.
Franklin Templeton is responsible for the sales and client service of our funds for financial advisers and individual investors.
If you would like to find out more about these funds, please visit the Franklin Templeton website.
How to invest
Martin Currie is a ‘Specialist Investment Manager’ within the Franklin Templeton group.
Franklin Templeton is responsible for the sales and client service of our funds for financial advisers and individual investors.
If you would like to find out more about these funds, please visit the Franklin Templeton website.
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