Please read the following important information for First State Asian Bond Fund
• The Fund invests primarily in debt securities of Asian government and corporates organised, headquartered or having their primary business operations in Asia.
• The Fund’s investments may be concentrated in a single or small numbers of Asian countries which may have higher volatility or greater loss of capital than more diversified portfolios.
• The Fund invests in emerging markets which may have increased risks than developed markets including liquidity risk, currency risk/control, political and economic uncertainties, high degree of volatility, settlement risk and custody risk.
• The Fund invests in sovereign debt securities which are exposed to political, social and economic risks.
• The Fund invests in debt/fixed income securities which may be subject to credit, interest rate, currency and credit rating reliability risks which would negatively affect its value. Investment grade securities may be subject to risk of being downgraded and the value of the Fund may be adversely affected. The Fund may invest in below investment grade, unrated debt securities which exposes to greater volatility risk, default risk and price changes due to change in the issuer's creditworthiness.
• The Fund may use FDIs for hedging and efficient portfolio management purposes, which may subject the Fund to additional liquidity, valuation, counterparty and over the counter transaction risks.
• For certain share classes, the Fund may at its discretion pay dividend out of capital or pay fees and expenses out of capital to increase distributable income and effectively a distribution out of capital. This amounts to a return or withdrawal of your original investment or from any capital gains attributable to that, and may result in an immediate decrease of NAV per share.
• It is possible that a part or entire value of your investment could be lost. You should not base your investment decision solely on this document. Please read the offering document including risk factors for details.
Prices & performance
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Strategy overview
Issuer:Key facts
ASX announcements
The iNAV reflects the estimated NAV per unit in respect of the Fund’s assets that have live market prices during the trading day. The issuer of the Fund has engaged ICE Data Indices, LLC as iNAV calculation agent to independently calculate the iNAV.
* iNAV calculations as shown (the "data") are provided by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its third party suppliers and are updated during ASX trading hours. iNAV calculations are indicative and for reference purposes only. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or marketed by ICE Data Indices, LLC, its affiliates ("ICE Data") and ICE Data or its respective third party suppliers MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE iNAV, FUND OR ANY FUND DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. IN NO EVENT SHALL ICE DATA HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS), EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. You acknowledge that the data is provided for information only and should not be relied upon for any purpose.
Strategy Overview
This Fund is an Irish domiciled UCITS fund marketed in the UK under the Overseas Fund Regime (OFR). The Fund is not subject to the UK sustainability disclosure and labelling regime.
Key Facts
Strategy Overview
Key Facts
Source: Lipper, Nav-Nav (with dividend reinvested where applicable)
Acc represents share class with dividends accumulated. M Dist represents share class with monthly distribution of dividends. H Dist represents share class with half-yearly distribution of dividends. Q Dist represents share class with quarterly distribution of dividends. Dividends are not guaranteed and may be paid out of capital. All prices are for indication only. For detail, please refer to the Fund’s factsheet for further details including investment objective & strategy, asset allocation, top 10 holdings, comparison with benchmark (if any) and disclosure.
Fixed Income: Stability and Opportunity Across Markets
Investing in fixed income offers the potential for attractive returns, consistent income streams, and diversification benefits across regions and sectors.
From sovereign bonds and currencies to investment-grade corporate issuances, our team provide access to deep liquidity and robust credit fundamentals, with an edge in Asian fixed income markets. Whether in developed economies or emerging markets, we help investors balance asset growth with stability.
Explore our latest insights
PK Founder Group – steering clear of a default
China-based diversified conglomerate PK Founder Group operates across IT, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, bulk commodities trading, education and training.
PK Founder Group did not have an external rating by international rating agencies, which is quite common among domestic companies in China. When the issuer first came to the international bond market in 2017 unrated, we assigned an ‘investment grade’ rating, with a view that there would be a high probability of support from the Government of China, despite the company’s relatively weak standalone financials. The bond issue was also attractively valued relative to other state-owned Chinese university issuers at the time.
After several interactions with the management, we concluded that the USD bond proceeds were being pledged against the company’s onshore borrowing facilities. This alarmed us as management was not transparent with regards to the structural subordination for offshore investors. The group quickly became a commercialised conglomerate, expanding into non-strategic mandates such as property. In our view, this severely weakened the likelihood of future government support.
The group’s total debt surged by >USD20 billion by end-FY18, (+31% year-on-year increase), and five additional USD bonds (totalling US$1 billion) were issued during the first six months of 2019. Concern were raised after meeting with management, and analysing the latest financials. Positions in our credit portfolios were trimmed and subsequently sold completely. The internal credit rating was subsequently downgraded into the ‘high yield’ category. Following the disposal, the bonds depreciated sharply. In December 2019, the group missed a bond repayment. This ‘default’ resulted in a very sharp deterioration in the value of the bonds.
Source: First Sentier Investors as at 31 August 2020.
Disclaimer: Reference to specific securities (if any) is included for the purpose of illustration only and should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell the same. All securities mentioned herein may or may not form part of the holdings of First Sentier Investors’ portfolios at a certain point in time, and the holdings may change over time
Meet the investment team
Nigel Foo
Fiona Kwok
Adeline Tan
Jin Hur
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