Neuberger Berman has launched the Neuberger Berman China A-Share Equity Fund (Dublin UCITS) managed by Ning Meng, senior portfolio manager, who joined the firm in 2019 with a strong 19-year track record in the sector. The investment strategy favours high-quality companies with proven management teams and consistent long-term performance, and businesses positioned for domestic secular growth well into the future, supported by government policies and broader industry trends. The fund’s approach is high-conviction driven by bottom-up fundamental research.
Benchmarked against the MSCI China A (Onshore), the fund will typically hold between 30-50 portfolio positions and target a tracking error of 4-8 per cent. Working alongside Neuberger Berman’s global ESG team, the fund will also review the ESG scoring of its portfolio holdings on a regular basis.
Meng manages the portfolio from Shanghai with support from a core team of analysts with an extensive local network. The local team is assisted by Neuberger Berman’s equity research teams based in Taiwan and Hong Kong which cover communications, consumer, financials, industrials & IT, as well as the firm’s broader emerging market equity teams.
Meng says: “Our focus on unearthing high quality domestic Chinese companies will ensure we are positioned for the long term. This strategy lends itself particularly well to China, as the A-share market is inherently volatile and often presents the opportunity to buy these companies at cheap valuations.
“We see growth potential in ‘new infrastructure’ and the real estate sector in particular. Amid the disruption caused by Covid-19 and trade tensions, new government-backed technology infrastructure projects including artificial intelligence, 5G, industrial IoT and electric vehicle charging stations are set to be some of the key drivers for long-term economic growth in China.”
Jose Cosio, Head of Intermediary – EMEA and Latin America, adds: “The China A-share market is now the second largest in the world in terms of market capitalisation and cash turnover. It has become increasingly popular amongst international clients who want to gain access to the breadth of well-managed domestic companies in the Chinese market.”
