Janus focuses on China's QDII scheme
By Jiang Yan (China Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-09-28 16:47

Janus, the ninth-largest mutual fund manager in the United States, with more than US$129 billion in assets as of June 2004, earlier this month announced its intention to focus greater attention on investments in China.

"In terms of net wealth and market potential, there is no place in the world like China," said Erich Gerth, chief executive officer of Janus International.

Gerth is responsible for Janus's worldwide broker-dealer and independent adviser sales, and the company's international institutional sales business.

"Part of our strategy will be to help China's fund industry better understand some of the expertise required for money management, such as risk-management tools, valuation models, performance measurements and risk-adjusted returns," said Ilex Lam, Janus' institutional business director or Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan.

Janus, Lam added, is interested in helping Chinese institutional investors, who are likely to apply for qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) licences, to invest overseas.

Some of the QDII applicants are ready to invest in offshore markets, while others lack the fund-management knowledge and expertise required to successfully invest in foreign countries, Lam added.

"China's institutional investors should first work out investment plans, based on a wide understanding of the overseas markets, before the QDII scheme officially begins," Lam said.

"I do not expect the QDII programme to begin soon ... That leaves us time to establish networks with local investors."

Another problem facing the QDII applicants, Lam added, is the lack of experienced fund managers in China.

Janus, he added, can help train domestic investment managers.

Lam, with 16 years of experience in the investment industry, arrived in Hong Kong last year. He previously spent nine years with Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he helped develop institutional business in Asia-Pacific -- including the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Said Gerth: "We will enter China through the institutional approach."

Said Lam: "We may either apply for the QFII (qualified foreign institutional investor) licence ourselves, or invest through other qualified institutional investors."

Company officials said the stock market's current performance is not a concern.

"The market is overreacting to normal trends," said Mike Lu, portfolio manager and executive vice-president of Janus World Funds Plc -- Global Technology Fund, US-based Global Technology Fund and Janus Aspen Global Technology Portfolio.

Lu cited the market's reaction to the semiconductor manufacturing sector as an example. The market has predicted the end of the tech cycle, or beginning of a new round, when it is only a seasonal adjustment, he said.

Company officials said recent weak market sentiment is only a short-term factor, and will not influence Janus' long-term focus on Asia, especially China.

The market continued to pick up last week, after hitting a five-year low earlier this month.

Asia, excluding Japan, is one of the fastest-growing regions in the global asset management industry. The sector's annual growth rate, through 2007, is expected to be 14.8 per cent, the company said.

A high percentage of the region's residents have savings accounts, but interest rates on deposits are low. China and India, in particular, have offered strong potential to the money management industry, but the countries are in the early stages of development, and are limited to local investment funds.

Janus established its presence in Asia in 2000, with the opening of its Hong Kong and Tokyo offices. It is now "targetting distribution partners, pension funds and insurance companies in the region," company officials said.

China represents the most promising growth opportunity for fund managers. The country last year possessed a retail market worth US$19.4 billion, and the compound annual growth rate is 24 per cent.

"Although we realize China's retail market will undoubtedly become a very attractive opportunity in the long term, for now, we will be concentrating our efforts in the country on institutional investors," Gerth said.

The National Social Security Fund and insurance companies, combined, accounted for 32 per cent of China's total mutual fund assets last year. People's Bank of China's figures indicate that will increase to 40 per cent by 2008.

Gerth said INTECH, Janus' risk-managed equity subsidiary, will be the key institutional product to lead the company's drive into the Chinese mainland.

INTECH manages more than US$17.6 billion in assets for institutional and retail investors worldwide.

As Janus' expertise is mainly accumulated overseas, it is "mulling co-operation with local partners," said Lam.

"But as it will be a long-term, strategic partnership, we will remain prudent."

He refused to provide further details.

Close