Please enter your
Fast Fact number below:
-
-
UK inflation jumps to 3% in April... House price falls 'are spreading'... Second negative month for sales... Mortgage lending hits 33-year low... Ministers' housing fears revealed... Heathrow T5 boss leaves BAA job... Airbus confirms new A380 delays... Darling to set out 10p tax plans... Shanghai shares fall after quake... Berlusconi vows to save Alitalia... A&L unveils £192m write-down... Write-down woe for French banks... No slowdown for China's shoppers... Food company could cut 700 jobs... Redrow gloomy on house market... Australian bank accepts takeover... Working parents at '15-year high'... HP confirms in talks to buy EDS... Venezuela takes over steel firm... Supermarkets lead brand chart... Rebound in pension fund finances... Retail boss fined over PPI sales... Farepak 'legal action' possible... Northern Rock sees arrears rise... Oil price resumes its record run... UK producer inflation at record... Food prices drive China inflation... Firms 'up prices as costs soar'... Cable TV firm wins US newspaper... Apple lines up iPhone Asia deals... More credit woe for bond insurer... Guidelines for financial journalists...
Offshore Funds
backHSBC's Russian equity fund
HSBC Investment’s latest launch, the GIF Russia Equity Fund, is a subfund of HSBC’s flagship Luxembourg-based Global Investment Funds (GIF) SICAV range. This new addition is managed by Halbis, the active management specialist team of the HSBC Group, and the lead manager is Douglas Helfer, who has a 10-year track record in managing Russian equities. The minimum investment sum is US$5,000.
HSBC tells Expat Investor how the Fund is benchmarked against the customised MSCI Russia 10/40 Index, and is managed in a similar way to that of a Russian equity fund also managed by Helfer and sold to clients in Japan. That fund was launched on 30 March, 2007 and has raised approximately US$300m to date.
This new Russia Equity fund holds a concentrated portfolio of 20- 30 stocks, which could include locally-listed Russian equities, American Depository Receipts (ADRs) and Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). The majority of assets are invested in large liquid blue chip stocks though up to a third of the portfolio could be invested in mid cap companies. Mr Helfer constructs the portfolio through bottom-up stock picking and takes an unconstrained approach to sector allocation.
He says Russian equities offer compelling investment opportunities. Russia has a large economy that is entering its eighth year of rapid growth. Although the economy was initially driven by commodity exports, growth is now being fuelled by domestic consumption and investment.
“Over the past few years, Russian stocks have delivered a good return. However, despite their rapid rise, Russian equities still remain attractively valued and amongst the cheapest of the emerging markets.
“Russian equities are trading on a 2008 consensus price earnings ratio of 10.5 times, compared to the broader global emerging markets universe of 13 times. At the same time, corporate profits continue to grow at a fast pace, particularly in the consumer and finance sectors, where growth is more than 30%. The presidential elections... should act as a catalyst to strong growth”
Fast Facts 44175- Click to find out more on the companies mentioned is this story
- HSBC