Trustnet Magazine Issue 45 November 2018 | Page 52

In the back
50 / 51
[ WHAT I BOUGHT LAST ]
Funds that effectively allocate
capital will always catch the eye but
highly efficient performance in more
volatile areas is even more valuable
This fund operates in a high-growth area, but GDIM’s Tom Sparke is
most impressed by its focus on downside protection
Janus Henderson Asia
Pacific Capital Growth
L
ooking across
the market for
optimal areas of
growth over the next
few years, it is hard not
to settle upon assets
in emerging markets,
especially in Asia. It is
no secret that China
is well on the way to
surpassing the US as the
world’s largest economy,
that India’s enormous
young workforce will
drive substantial and
persistent growth or
that South Korea’s
semiconductors power
a huge percentage of the
world’s devices.
When looking at how
to increase our exposure
FE TRUSTNET
to this region, “risk-
adjusted return” was a
key consideration. So,
when it came to the
Janus Henderson Asia
Pacific Capital Growth
fund, a high-conviction
best-ideas portfolio run
by an experienced team,
the degree of downside
protection it had
achieved was one of its
most attractive features.
The fund has managed
to keep up with its peers
when markets have
rallied but held up much
better when they have
fallen.
The fund’s
management team is
headed up by Andrew
Gillan and contains nine
other managers and
analysts, all of whom
contribute ideas. They
split the portfolio into
two categories of stocks,
core and dynamic, with
the former containing
familiar secular growth
companies such as
TSMC, Samsung and
Tencent, and the latter
more cyclical names
or those just emerging
as winners. The fund
can invest across the
Asia Pacific region
and typically holds
substantial weights in
China, India, Taiwan
and Hong Kong, which
dominate the portfolio.
Looking at the fund’s
current holdings brings
a mix of reassurance
and curiosity as some
unfamiliar names
populate the top-10.
Janus Henderson Asia
Pacific Capital Growth
has a focus on high-
quality stocks but also
demonstrates value-
based characteristics
in not over-paying
for companies, while
actively topping up
or initiating positions
in securities the team
believes are over-sold.
In the third quarter of
this year, the managers
felt that quality growth
companies were
expensive, so lightened
up on some technology
holdings and added
to some financials,
consumer discretionary
and commodity stocks.
If, as expected, the
recent volatility subsides
and more fundamental
factors, such as earnings,
begin to drive Asian
markets once again, this
fund should be able to
capitalise on its favoured
stocks with strong
earnings and continuing
healthy domestic
demand.
Funds that effectively
allocate capital will
always catch the eye
but highly efficient
performance in more
volatile areas is even
more valuable and we
are pleased to welcome
the fund into both our
higher risk portfolios
and our more moderate
ones, too.
Tom Sparke is an
investment manager
at GDIM Discretionary
Fund Managers
trustnet.com