Aberdeen Standard to launch onshore equity fund

Aberdeen Standard Investments, the United Kingdom's largest active asset manager, will launch its first onshore equity fund, which will focus on China's A-share market, in the middle of this year.

The investment firm joined major global asset managers, including Fidelity International, UBS Asset Management, Black-Rock and Man Group in seeking to make inroads into China's nearly 31 trillion yuan ($4.8 trillion) private asset management market as of the end of 2017.

Amy Wang, head of Aberdeen Standard Investments' China business, said the firm has initiated the preparation and management work for its first private onshore fund in the country.

The Scotland-based asset manager said it holds a positive view on the Chinese equities and fixed-income market in 2018, despite the country's potential growth moderation. "We are optimistic about the overall outlook of the Chinese economy, and we think the consumer sector in particular will do well in 2018. It means that there is potential in the Chinese equities market," said Irene Goh, head of multi-asset solutions for Asia-Pacific at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

The investment firm, with assets of $764 billion under management, obtained the qualification to launch onshore funds in China in December. Its wholly foreign-owned enterprise, Aberdeen Asset Management (Shanghai) Co Ltd, successfully registered as a private securities investment fund manager with the Asset Management Association of China.

The qualification will allow the firm to raise funds from Chinese institutional investors and high net-worth individuals, and to invest in the Chinese capital markets.

The firm will also launch a fund investing in Chinese sovereign bonds in Luxembourg in the second quarter of this year, which will allow investors to tap opportunities in the Chinese bond market, according to Donald Amstad, the firm's head of investment specialists for Asia-Pacific.

Amstad said that Chinese government bonds and bonds issued by the country's policy banks look "incredibly attractive" given the relatively higher yield compared to countries such as Japan and Germany.