Bestinvest says
Whilst the fund's manager, Diamond Lee, and his team are well experienced, and the investment approach has been consistent the fund has not been adding a sufficient amount of value relative to the peer group. On this basis we downgraded the fund to two stars (hold rating) in 2009 and have higher conviction in our recommended funds within the Asia Pacific Excluding Japan sector.
The portfolio is kept broadly diversified at the country level, using the peer group as a benchmark. The fund is managed on a team basis and a top down approach initially sets the parameters for investing. Here investment themes, global outlook, sectors and countries are reviewed. From this, a list of potential stocks is drawn up and then investigated. Companies with strong growth features, visible earnings and strong cash flow are generally preferred. Whilst the top down perspective is important the individual company research is favoured over asset allocation. The manager and team will conduct over 200 company meetings a year and due diligence stresses balance sheets and a company's ability to generate good cash flows.