Glen Finegan, former co-manager on the fund, has given up the role after two years. He will continue to run the First State Global Emerging Markets Fund with Asante, and has been appointed a co-manager on the First State Worldwide Equity Fund. He has been part of the global emerging markets team at the group since 2001, when he joined as an analyst.
Prew’s First State Global Emerging Markets Select Fund has been a strong performer. It launched in March 2010, and has delivered a return of 35.4% over three years, while the average fund in the offshore equity – emerging markets sector has fallen 8.7%.
Prew has managed the fund since 2011. However, at £46.2m, it is considerably smaller that the £4.2bn Global Emerging Market Leaders Fund.
First State is due to bring in ‘soft close’ measures to manage the size of its leaders fund. These include hiking the initial charge.The Global Emerging Markets Fund has already been soft closed.
The two funds remain the second and third best-performing funds in the sector (after the Aberdeen Global Emerging Markets
Fund) over five years.
The team’s focus on high quality, more defensive companies has served it well in a climate where emerging markets have been widely unloved. However, in common with much of the wider emerging markets sector, both funds are under water for the year to date, having both dropped 0.6%.
