First fund in Malaysia focused on luxury goods and services
Kuala Lumpur, March 8 - HLG Unit Trust Bhd (HLG UT) today launched its latest fund, the HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund. The Fund marks another milestone for the company as it is the first fund in Malaysia that invests in the global luxury sector.
HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund is a global balanced fund that intends to invest into a mixture of fixed income securities and luxury goods equity securities through a portfolio of international companies involved in the luxury or prestige goods and services sector. The Fund aims to provide investors with the opportunity to enjoy regular income and seeks medium-to-long term capital growth by investing into a diversified investment portfolio containing a mixture of fixed income securities and equity securities. The equities securities consist of companies which carry out their activities principally in the luxury or prestige goods and services sector in any part of the world.
The new Fund was launched at a ceremony today by Mr. Richard Lin, Executive Director and CEO of HLG Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Mr. Teo Chang Seng, Executive Director and Acting CEO of HLG Unit Trust Bhd accompanied by Frederic Barroyer, Chief Executive Officer of SG Asset Management (Singapore) Ltd and Philippe Lasnier de Lavalette, Senior Portfolio Strategist of Societe Generale Asset Management S.A.
The HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund is designed for investors who are seeking a regular income stream and more stable investment returns compared to those provided by pure luxury goods equity funds. The Fund is also suitable for investors who are seeking greater diversification in their investment holdings through global exposure as well as potential for medium-to-long term capital appreciation from investments in the global luxury goods industries.
“To achieve the fund objective of regular income and medium-to-long term capital growth, the Fund would have exposure to a broad range of industries such as perfume and cosmetics, watches and jewellery, leather goods and accessories, apparels, luxury cars and lifestyle/medical equipment of premium quality, selected primarily on the basis of their capital growth,” said Lin. Other categories include luxury cars, sporting goods, home accessories, hotel cruises, travel services, financial services, lifestyle and medical equipment of premium quality.
SG Asset Management (Singapore) Ltd [SGAM Singapore] has been appointed as the external foreign investment manager to manage the equity securities of companies in the global luxury goods sector. SGAM Singapore is the regional head office of Societe Generale Asset Management for the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan region. SGAM Singapore, which manages all the Asia Pacific ex Japan mandates, is owned by the Paris-based Societe Generale Asset Management (SGAM Paris) which is one of the world’s leading asset managers with US$437 billion of assets under management as at 30 September 2006.
"We are confident that with our appointed fund manager SGAM’s expertise in this sector, the Fund would be able to provide investors exposure to the global luxury sector with potentially attractive returns,” Lin added.
Market exposure for the HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund would be a minimum of 50% in the foreign markets and a maximum of 50% locally. The asset allocation for the Fund would be between 40%-60% in global equity securities and between 40%-60% in fixed income securities. The performance of the Fund is benchmarked against the 50% RAM Quant Shop MGS Bond All 1+ Year Index + 50% MSCI ACWI Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods.
The new global fund will play an important role in positioning HLG Unit Trust Bhd as among the major unit trust players in the industry. The inclusion of the HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund increases HLG Unit Trust’s portfolio of managed funds to 21. Other funds currently managed are from a diverse range of products that include a selection of Islamic Shariah-compliant unit trusts, growth funds, equity funds, balanced funds, sectoral funds as well as bond funds.
The HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund has a total approved fund size of 400 million units priced at RM 0.50 per unit during the initial offer period (from March 8 2007 till March 28 2007). Minimum initial investment for HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund is RM 1,000 while the minimum additional investment is RM 100.
HLG Global Lifestyle Balanced Fund is distributed through both HLG Unit Trust Bhd’s agency force and through selected Institutional Unit Trust Agents (IUTA) namely, Hong Leong Bank Berhad, HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad and Affin Bank Berhad.
About HLG Unit Trust Bhd
Incorporated on October 5 1994, HLG Unit Trust Bhd is an established unit trust management company, and a member of the Hong Leong Group Malaysia. Its core business is the management of unit trust funds.
Here at HLG Unit Trust Bhd, everything we do reflects our tagline “Making Opportunities Work”. Making opportunities work is central to what we do. In the world of investment, it is all about being able to spot the right opportunities and at HLG Unit Trust Bhd, we strive to make them work for our investors.
The company already manages 21 unit trust funds to date, which are distributed nationwide through multiple channels. Direct and channel distribution activities are supported by the HLG Unit Trust Bhd’s strategic nationwide sales support infrastructure. This includes our headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and six sales support offices nationwide in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
As at February 28 2007, HLG Unit Trust Bhd has a combined total fund size of RM 2.07 billion.
About Hong Leong Group Malaysia
From its humble beginnings as a trading company in 1963, Hong Leong Group Malaysia has expanded steadily in tandem with the growth of the nation of Malaysia through entrepreneurship, investment foresight and innovation to its present size and position with core businesses rooted in key sectors. Based in Malaysia, the Group today controls 14 listed companies in various stock exchanges around the world with a total market capitalisation circa USD 11 billion and over 500 operating subsidiaries and associate companies. The Group's globally diversified core businesses are firmly rooted in the key sectors of financial services, manufacturing & distribution and property development & investment.