Portfolio Briefing –
– Paul Espinosa explains that the Growth and Income Fund avoided headline risks in China related to real estate developers and the government crackdown on industries such as education. However, holdings in South Korea suffered, likely from anticipation of a global slowdown in GDP.
Portfolio BriefingPortfolio Briefing –
– Paul Espinosa discusses key drivers of Value Fund performance, including holdings impacted by COVID resurgence and holdings that performed well for stock-specific reasons. He also explains the factors he considers when managing the weighting of portfolio holdings.
Portfolio BriefingChina’s Complicated Relationship with the Private Sector
– In response to a large and freewheeling private economy, the Chinese government under Xi Jinping is engaging in a widespread campaign to assert greater control over the private sector.
China’s Complicated Relationship with the Private SectorChina’s Bond Markets: Defaults and Idiosyncrasies
– Several looming corporate restructurings will show just how committed China’s regulators are to the development and healthy maturation of the country’s bond markets.
MoreHow the Value Team Finds “Gems” in Emerging Markets
– Paul Espinosa examines four company attributes that guide the Value team’s search for “Gems”: ROE-COE spread, resilience across the company life cycle, global validation, and a valuation consistent with the minimum rate of return.
MoreMoney Life – Interview with Andrew Foster
– In an interview with Money Life’s Chuck Jaffe, Andrew Foster explains that innovative, globally competitive companies are emerging from the developing world, despite slowing economic growth. Listen
MorePortfolio Review –
– Kate Jaquet attributes the largely steady upward performance of EM equities in the quarter to a speculative optimism that companies across many sectors will eventually restore their former profitability. She explains that Samsung Biologics, a new Growth and Income Fund holding, offers exposure to an industry with sustainable long-term growth potential.
Portfolio ReviewPortfolio Review –
– Paul Espinosa discusses several portfolio holdings to illustrate that the Value Fund’s performance was largely driven by corporate earnings-related considerations, not simply a rotation into value stocks. He introduces a new position, Coca-Cola Femsa, as an example of a Fund holding that actively improved its operating efficiency and market share during the pandemic.
Portfolio ReviewPrevailing Winds
Learn MoreChina’s Credit Crackdown: Financial Risks and Political Red Lines
– Efforts by Chinese regulators to stamp out risks will fall short as long as China’s financial system exists in its current suboptimal state of partial liberalization.
China’s Credit Crackdown: Financial Risks and Political Red LinesParty Committees in Chinese Companies
– Renewed efforts to expand the Chinese Communist Party’s role in companies are antithetical to China’s desire to be treated as a modern market-based economy.
SOE Reform in China – Implications for Policymakers and InvestorsSOE Reform in China – Implications for Policymakers and Investors
– A rules-based and transparent approach to managing state-owned enterprises is in China's economic interest and will provide clarity for foreign investors.
SOE Reform in China – Implications for Policymakers and InvestorsNews and Commentary
Emerging Markets Briefing
– Seafarer addresses key questions about emerging markets investing and how U.S. investors can integrate the asset class into long-term portfolios.
Emerging Markets BriefingThe Evolution of China’s Bond Market
– The rapid development of China’s domestic bond market, now the second largest in the world, represents a significant step in the opening up of the country’s capital markets.
MoreThe Future of China within the Emerging Market Asset Class
– As China’s economic might is ever more fraught with political and moral dilemmas, Andrew Foster weighs the merits of carving out China as an independent asset class.
MoreManaging Currency Risk in the Emerging Markets
– Andrew Foster and Kate Jaquet describe how Seafarer utilizes its proprietary macro currency model to manage currency risks within the construct of a diversified portfolio of foreign securities.
MoreThe Wire China – The Party on the Inside: The CCP and Chinese Companies
– In The Wire China, Seafarer’s Nicholas Borst writes that China’s effort to entrench the Chinese Communist Party within companies is incompatible with its desire to be treated as a modern market-based economy.
MoreFund Resources
Field Notes
Explore Our MapPenang
Manufacturers Limited by Customer Concentration
– The small Malaysian state of Penang has a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure, and a long history in the global technology supply chain. One thing that many Penang-based contract manufacturers don’t have is customer diversification.
PenangBeijing
Technology Reigns
– Beijing’s technology companies are focused on smart city initiatives, big data, and artificial intelligence.
MoreDelhi
Smoked Out
– Hazardous air pollution in Delhi exposes the politics of India’s environmental ambitions.
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