Change to investment policy – various Matthews Asia funds
Matthews Asia Funds has announced a change to the investment policies of various funds in its range which will take effect 15 December 2021.
Available in our open-architecture products
The funds feature in our open-architecture products and will be subject to changes detailed in the Matthews Asia Funds notification document opposite.
Available in our defined fund range products
The funds in the table below can be found in our defined fund range products Oracle, Paragon, Quantum, RSP (including Malaysia variants), LifePlan, LifePlan Lebanon, Protected Lifestyle and Protected Lifestyle Lebanon. A summary of the changes are detailed below.
| Fund name |
|---|
| Matthews Asia - Pacific Tiger A Acc USD Matthews Asia - Pacific Tiger A Acc GBP Matthews Asia – Asia Dividend A Acc USD Matthews Asia – Asia Dividend A Acc GBP Matthews Asia – Japan A Acc USD |
For each fund detailed in the table above, its investment policy will be modified to allow each of these funds to invest, directly or indirectly, less than 70% of its net assets in aggregate in China A and B Shares. Currently the funds are only permitted to invest less than 30% of their total net assets in aggregate in China A and B Shares.
The reason for these changes is to provide greater flexibility to the funds to access opportunities in the Chinese equity markets given that a growing portion of the companies in the funds’ investable universe are China A shares companies. As of 31 March 2021, approximately 70% of Chinese companies with a market capitalization greater than US$1 billion trade on the China A shares market. This comprises more than 1900 companies to invest in, and the market capitalization of stocks listed on the China A Shares market has more than doubled over the last 5 years. In addition, the number of China A Shares companies included in major benchmark indices has increased in the recent years, and is expected to increase substantially over coming years.
You can view a copy of the Matthews Asia Funds notification document opposite for a detailed breakdown of all the changes.
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For more information about Matthews Asia Funds visit www.global.matthewsasia.com