Liontrust Asset Management PLC : Liontrust to launch Asia Income Fund

20 January 2012

Liontrust to launch Asia Income Fund

Liontrust is to launch the Liontrust Asia Income Fund on 5 March 2012 to provide investors with diversification away from the UK and exposure to a region with an attractive source of income combined with Asia's longer term growth prospects.
The Liontrust Asia Income Fund, which is a UK domiciled unit trust, aims to have a prospective yield approximately 10% above that of Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) markets. If the fund was launched today, it would have a yield of about 4.5%.
The Fund is to be managed by Mark Williams, along with Carolyn Chan and Shashank Savla (see biographies at the end of the press release). They have a combined investment experience of 45 years.
Mark Williams said: "There is a clear desire by Asian companies to increase dividend payouts. This is a reflection of the strong financial position of companies and countries in Asia and an increasing focus on shareholder returns.
"Having suffered their own financial crisis in 1997, Asian companies and governments went through the deleveraging then that Western economies are struggling with now. Although this was a long, painful process, Asian countries were lucky to have completed it at a time when global growth was more robust. This has left them, although as always with exceptions, in a strong financial position."
Investors seeking income from Asian equities have profited from this trend. Investors in the companies
in the top quintile of yielding stocks (on a forward looking basis) from January 1995 to mid-October 2011 would have outperformed Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) markets by more than 7% on an annualised
basis if dividends were reinvested (source: Daiwa). This outperformance was achieved through different market environments, including the Asian financial crisis, the bursting of the technology bubble and the global financial crisis.
Mark Williams is confident about the sustainability of dividend payouts by Asian companies. "In 2008, in the midst of the global financial crisis, more than half of companies in Malaysia, China, Singapore, India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines did not significantly alter or raise their dividends in absolute terms (source: CLSA)."
For the retail share class of the Fund, there is an annual management charge (AMC) of 1.5% and a minimum investment of £1,000. There is an institutional share class with an AMC of 0.75%. The Fund will be in the Asia Pacific ex-Japan IMA sector and will hold between 50 and 70 stocks.

For further information, please contact:

Simon Hildrey, Head of Marketing and Communications
020 7412 1778 or 07958 917528

Notes for Editors:

Liontrust Asset Management, which was founded in 1994, is an independent fund management group whose shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Liontrust manages £1.35 billion (as of 10
November 2011) in UK, European, Asian and Emerging Markets equities after acquiring Occam Asset
Management in October 2011.

Biographies Mark Williams

Mark Williams started his career in 1993 working for James Capel Investment Management where he ran global investment mandates for discretionary portfolios. In August 1997, Mark joined Royal Sun Alliance to specialise in Asian Investment, where he managed a number of mandates, including benchmark-measured, investment trust and peer group funds. In 2000, Mark took over the FPI GIP Far East Equity Sicav, then following the merger of ISIS Asset Management (born from the merger of Royal Sun Alliance and Friends Ivory & Sime) and F&C, he took over responsibility for the F&C Pacific Growth Fund. The F&C Far East Fund was awarded 1st place in the Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan sector over 5 years (out of 52 funds) by the S&P European Awards in 2007 and the F&C Pacific Growth Fund was rated AAA rated by Citywire. Mark joined Occam Asset Management as Head of the Asia Equity team in October 2007 and transferred to Liontrust Asset Management in October 2011.

Carolyn Chan

Carolyn Chan joined the Asia equities team at Liontrust on 9 January 2012. Carolyn has been managing Asian money since January 2010 and has 19 years of experience of the Asian financial sector. She was previously at Hampton Investment Management and has also worked at Daiwa Securities, Citigroup, ING Barings and WI Carr in London and Singapore.

Shashank Savla

Shashank Savla has over 8 years' financial markets experience. Shashank was a research analyst at J.P. Morgan from 2004 to 2010 covering Equity Strategy and the Retail Sector. He was part of the top-ranked institutional investor team covering the European Food Retail sector in 2010 and the 4th ranked
European Equity Strategy team in 2009. He joined Occam in June 2010 and transferred to Liontrust in
October 2011.