Swiss & Global Asset Management, a division of GAM Holding AG that formed out of Julius Baer Asset Management in October ’09 (and now the exclusive proviPARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

Swiss & Global Asset Management, a division of GAM Holding AG that formed out of Julius Baer Asset Management in October ’09 (and now the exclusive provider of JB funds), has announced the launch of a new UCITS fund. Taking a specific geographic mandate, the Lux-domiciled Julius Baer Chindonesia Fund will, as its name alludes to, focus a minimum 80 per cent of its portfolio investments in China, India and Indonesia; three of Asia’s most high octane emerging economies. The rest of the portfolio will invest in countries holding close economic ties with the trio, giving investors exposure to resources in Mongolia and Kazakhstan, gambling in Hong Kong and consumer electronics in Taiwan and Korea according to Citywire. Fund managers Vincent Lagger and Jian Shi were quoted as saying that Chindonesia’s economic activity equalled “47 per cent of the US economy” and that the twenty-first century “may well become the [sic] Chindonesia’s century”.

A spokesperson at Swiss & Global told Hedgeweek that the Lux-domiciled fund currently had USD12million in AUM after officially launching end-September with approximately USD10million. The strategy seems well placed to exploit expected growth in the three countries. Indonesia’s GDP is forecast to grow 6.4 per cent in 2011, with Fitch forecasting India’s GDP to grow 8.7 per cent. The World Bank have forecast China’s GDP to slow slightly to 8.7 per cent having expanded 10 per cent in 2010. China is the largest producer of coal, India the third, whilst Indonesia is a major exporter. According to Steelguru, coal production is set to increase 23 per cent this year to 340million tonnes. Supriatna Suhala, Executive Director, Indonesian Coal Mining Association said: “We predict that we’ll see soaring demand for coal in emerging market economies in 2011,” adding that “Japan, India, China and South Korea would remain the largest importers of Indonesia’s coal”.