The fund will be marketed under private placement rules until mid-July when Matrix expects the fund to be passported into the UK by the FSA.
It will invest in Asian equity markets including, but not limited to, China, Japan, India, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australasia and Singapore.
Foster will be able to rotate actively between China and Japan (which account for 70% of the market capitalisation of the Asian Stock exchanges) to best capture their respective stages of their economic cycles.
Existing strategy
He has already used this strategy in the Cayman-domiciled Matrix Asia Fund, which has outperformed the MSCI Asia Pacific Index this year by actively shorting China and being long Japan, a position that Rupert plans to replicate in the Matrix Asia Ucits Fund.
The new fund will hold between 30 to 50 stocks at any one time, held either directly or indirectly via derivatives. Minimum investment for retail clients is £50,000 or £25,000 when passported in to the UK. The initial charge is up to 5%, with an annual management charge of 2% and 20% performance fee subject to a high water mark.
Foster said: “Having a long/short pan-Asian investment remit is very important to me as it gives me the ultimate tool kit to deliver outperformance for my clients. I expect my current portfolio positioning of shorting China and being long Japan to remain until sometime in the fourth quarter of this year when I expect to rotate back to being long China and short Japan. Over an investment cycle, I expect to add a third of the performance from my short book.
“In summary, I expect Asian markets to hit new highs in the next two to three years and then to surge further as ‘no growth’ Western consumption and demand disappoint expectations. Asia has emerged from the global downturn faster and stronger than any other region and I believe Asia is in a structural bull market.”
