Equity strategy: China
A capital market with great potential
Direct access to Chinese equities and the Chinese currency
In the past, foreign investors could hardly invest directly in China due to strict capital market regulations and the corresponding capital controls. With the capital market reforms of recent years, however, more investment opportunities are opening up, and China’s weighting in the global stock indices is increasing steadily.
In 2012, Metzler Asset Management GmbH received permission from the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to invest directly on the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. This made us one of the first companies in Germany with a so-called "QFII license".
Since 2003, the Chinese government has opened the market for A-shares further and allowed cross-border trading of selected shares between the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges. A-shares could previously be traded only by Chinese citizens.
In order to take advantage of any opportunities associated with this, we offer our investors the Metzler China Equity RMB Fund as an investment vehicle.
Metzler China Equity RMB fund
The Metzler China Equity RMB Fund, launched at the beginning of 2013, is an Irish qualified investor alternative investment fund – a so-called non-UCITS securities fund strictly for qualified investors.
ISIN: IE00B79N9Y56
Local management understands the specifics
In order to gain detailed insight into the specific conditions on the Chinese equity market and reap professional benefits, Metzler established a representative office in Beijing in 2009. In addition, we have entrusted the management of our Metzler China Equity RMB Fund to our renowned local cooperation partner Zhong Ou Asset Management International Limited ("ZOAM Intl.") in Hong Kong. ZOAM Intl. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Shanghai-based company Zhong Ou Asset Management Company Limited. ("ZOAM"), a fast-growing asset manager with over 50% employee share ownership.
Your advantage: Our local manager knows the ins and outs of the Chinese capital market, has an in-depth understanding of the industries in the region, and can draw on many years of experience in fund management.
The investment process
Our local cooperation partner, ZOAM Intl, together with its parent company ZOAM in Shanghai, has over 90 portfolio managers and analysts who analyze more than 4,000 stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong. The local manager aims to identify high-quality companies with fair valuations in order to achieve sustainable long-term returns.
The portfolio strategy is based primarily on a bottom-up approach and uses proprietary research to select high-quality companies with good corporate governance, growth potential and a fair valuation. The fund manager prioritizes risk monitoring, including liquidity management, in order to ensure optimal portfolio management.
Stock picking is based on an in-depth fundamental analysis of the target companies and their respective business environments, e.g. suppliers, competitors, distributors and end-customers, as well as the regulatory framework. Through qualitative and quantitative screening, the fund manager seeks to determine the intrinsic value of each investment target in order to identify potential investment opportunities. Ultimately, approximately 30 to 50 individual stocks are selected for portfolio construction.
The criteria for selecting individual stocks include the quality of the company's products and/or services, management and governance, earnings performance, long-term competitive advantages, growth potential, valuation, and business dynamics within the industry.
Metzler Asset Management has been managing sustainability mandates for 20 years now and was one of the first German asset managers to sign the UN PRI in 2012. ESG criteria are integrated into the investment process for all mutual funds – and in some special AIFs upon request. ZOAM also implements basic sustainability in this Metzler fund and has signed the UN PRI.