UPDATE ON MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

RNS Number : 8056B

Witan Pacific Investment Trust PLC

23 April 2012

 



WITAN PACIFIC INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 

Witan Pacific appoints two new managers and opens up a wider range of opportunities in the region

Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc ("Witan Pacific") ("the Trust"), which follows a broad Asia Pacific investment policy, including Japan, announces the appointment of two new managers within its multi-manager investment structure: Matthews International Capital Management, LLC ("Matthews") and MW GaveKal Asia Limited ("MW GaveKal"). The Board's decision  reflects its objective to seek to enhance returns to shareholders by accessing a wider range of opportunities across the region.

A broad range of managers was reviewed in a formal search process. Following careful analysis of their different characteristics and their potential effects on the overall portfolio, Matthews and MW GaveKal were selected. They replace Nomura Asset Management U.K. Limited ("Nomura").  The other existing manager, Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited ("Aberdeen") remains.

Matthews and MW GaveKal will manage circa 35% and 10% respectively of the Trust's assets. Aberdeen will continue to manage the balance of the portfolio (approximately 55%), with a fundamental investment style emphasising the identification of good quality companies on low valuations relative to their growth potential.

Matthews is a leading Asian investment specialist based in San Francisco and currently manages USD17.8bn in Asia Pacific equities and bonds. Matthews will manage their portion of the Trust's assets in accordance with the firm's Asia Dividend Strategy. MW GaveKal is a Hong Kong based joint venture between Marshall Wace LLP and GaveKal Holdings and manages country specific and Asia Pacific regional portfolios with assets under management in excess of USD1.0bn.

Using these three distinctive managers creates a unique investment blend for the Trust's portfolio.  Their unconstrained approaches create portfolios which are independent of individual companies' and markets' weighting in the regional indices. For example, the Japan weighting with the new combination of managers is currently less than that of the Greater China region (incorporating China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), in contrast to the dominant Japanese market weighting in the regional benchmark index.

Each manager has a distinct investment approach:

·     Aberdeen - Stock specific, unconstrained, growth at an attractive price

·     Matthews - Stock specific, unconstrained, long-term strategy blending yield with growth potential

·      MW GaveKal - Unconstrained, actively managing exposure to equities, bonds and cash.

Gillian Nott, Chairman of Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc said:

"Following a careful review conducted in conjunction with a specialist external fund selection consultant (bfinance), the Board has decided to appoint Matthews and MW GaveKal. They will manage the portion of the portfolio previously allocated to Nomura. While making this change, the Board would like to record its thanks to the managers at Nomura for their service to our shareholders in outperforming the benchmark index since 2005.

We believe these changes will provide shareholders with a truly exciting combination of active managers - Aberdeen, whose quality stock picking approach has already been very successful for the Trust, will be joined by Matthews, who will focus on choosing companies which offer attractive earnings growth and dividend paying characteristics, and MW GaveKal who combine stock selection with an active approach to asset allocation between bonds, cash and equities.

In Aberdeen, Matthews and MW GaveKal we have a blend of strong managers with distinctive and successful records who will seek to deliver a well-diversified, balanced portfolio with an attractive mix of quality, growth and dividend yield. The appointment of Matthews, with its focus on dividend growth, is expected to increase the overall portfolio yield and with it the scope to support the Trust's dividend growth policy. The inclusion of MW GaveKal provides the potential to reduce the absolute volatility of the trust, particularly in down markets."

There will be a meeting for analysts to explain the changes in more detail, today,Monday 23^rd April, at 3.30pm, at JP Morgan 10 Aldermanbury London EC2V 7RF.

 For further details please contact:

William Simmonds at JP Morgan Cazenove on 020 7588 2828

Phoenix Administration Services Limited - Corporate Secretary

23 April 2012

 

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