What is the fund objective?
The India fund seeks to maximize total return by investing at least 70% of its total assets in the equity securities of companies domiciled in, or exercising the predominant part of their economic activity in India.
In normal market conditions the Fund will invest exclusively via the Subsidiary.
For more information please see the prospectus.
What is the fund’s investment approach?
The process adopted is similar to that of the wider Asian equity team, best described as a flexible valuation approach using macro factors and bottom-up stock-level research.
From a macro perspective the team plays close attention to key economic trends and tries to determine what sectors are best placed to benefit from government policy decisions, such as infrastructure.
At individual stock level, preferred companies are those that have a dominant market position with a clear competitive advantage, have quality management with a record of creating shareholder value and a sustainable strategy that’s demonstrated in the earnings pattern.
Given the teams value bias, more emphasis is put on price/book value among other valuation metrics. They pay close attention to liquidity - an important aspect in the Indian market, particularly in the stocks lower down the market-cap spectrum.
The portfolio usually holds around 60-80 names with sector weightings typically as residual of stock selection and there’s a 15% limit on active weighting, providing more than enough flexibility for the fund manager. Turnover is high at around 200% which is partly a function of local market dynamics.
Who is the Fund Manager?
Hong Kong-based Chief Investment Officer Nick Scott was named Fund Manager in April 2007. Scott’s a veteran of Asian Markets with over 12 years experience investing in the region. He’s advised by the Mumbai-based investment advisory team at DSP BlackRock, a joint venture between BlackRock and majority partner DSP Group that stretches back to 1997.
The sub-advisor group as a team of 11 devoted to the fund making it one of the larger investment teams covering the Indian market, according to Morningstar. At the heart of the team are three senior investors: CIO Sundaresan Naganath, Head of Equities Anup Mahewshwari and Portfolio Manager Apoorva Shah. The three boast a wealth of experience, know the local market well and have worked together for over a decade.
Who is Blackrock?
BlackRock Inc is an independent forum providing investment management, risk management and advisory services. Historically the firm has targeted institutional investors, but it has recently permeated the retail market, not least through the acquisition of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in 2006. The merger strengthened its reputation on the equity front and made it the biggest asset managers globally with assets under management at $1.26 trillion.