William Blair Investment Management have launched a new China Growth mutual fund to provide investors with exposure to the country’s growth.
The fund is managed by Casey Preyss and Vivian Lin Thurston from William Blair Investment Management’s Global Equity Team. Under normal market circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80 per cent of its net assets in securities issued by companies of the People’s Republic of China, including class A-shares of companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, H-shares listed in Hong Kong, ADRs, GDRs, and dual-listed securities. The team will also integrate ESG factors in its analysis of potential holdings to better understand the risks and opportunities at the company level.
“Over the past several decades, the world has witnessed the transformation of China from a smokestack economy to a labtech economy. Urbanisation, rising income, and growing number of millennials have been driving significant consumption in the Chinese middle class,” says Preyss, CFA, portfolio manager.
“China’s domestic market is largely inefficient, uncorrelated to other major market indices, and under-represented in many investors’ portfolios,” says Thurston, CFA, portfolio manager. “It provides very attractive and unique investment opportunities to capture China’s growth themes, and we believe that our quality growth investment style is well suited for Chinese equities as we seek to differentiate sustainable value creators from the average growth company.”
The launch of the new fund is the latest addition to the suite of William Blair investment strategies available to US investors. As of 30 June, 2021, William Blair Investment Management manages more than USD73 billion of assets.
“The launch of this new fund further expands our strong emerging markets franchise and expands the range of investment strategies available to US investors,” says Robert Duwa, CFA, partner, head of North America Distribution at William Blair Investment Management. “China has been an integral part of our Global Equity platform since the mid-1990s. Our global approach provides us with broader and deeper investment insights that allows us to better understand global developments and trends relevant for China and global supply chains.”
