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An update from our investment manager, Chern-Yeh Kwok - 19 March 2021
With Covid-19 vaccinations being rolled out across the globe, the bifurcation of the markets in the last year — a separation of the winners from the losers because of the pandemic — has started to reverse. But the extent of the pandemic suggests that some emergent trends may be more entrenched. This is clear when we look across the Asia Pacific region: where economies have reopened, social and business activities have resumed, but some habits formed during lockdowns remain. Additionally, businesses that have delayed expansion plans are making up for lost time, resulting in a broad-based pick-up in capital expenditure; there is pent-up demand not only from last year’s business disruption, but also from geopolitical uncertainty the year before. This presents an attractive backdrop for improving fundamentals across Japanese corporations. We believe our portfolios are well-positioned to reflect these changes, and that valuations remain reasonable against the brightening outlook of the companies held in our Trust.
Japan is home to world-class companies with strong franchises that can play an essential role in any diversified portfolio seeking to deliver long-term growth.
Learn more about our ESG investment process
Chern-Yeh Kwok is head of Japanese equities having transferred from the Singapore team in January 2011. Chern-Yeh joined Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) in 2005 from MSCI Barra where he was an equity research analyst.
Chern-Yeh graduated with a BA in Journalism from the University of Missouri- Columbia and holds an MSc in Finance from the London Business School.
Hisashi Arakawa joined Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) in 2016 and is based in the Tokyo office. He has a MPhys in Physics from the University of Oxford and a MBA from INSEAD and is a CFA® charterholder. He was previously vice president in the corporate banking group of Development Bank of Japan.
Flavia Cheong is the Head of Asia Pacific Equities on the Asian Equities team at Aberdeen Standard Investments, where, as well as sharing responsibility for company research, she oversees regional portfolio construction. Before joining Aberdeen Asset Management in 1996, she was an economist with the Investment Company of the People’s Republic of China, and earlier with the Development Bank of Singapore. Flavia graduated with a BA in Economics and an MA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Auckland. She is a CFA charterholder.
CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.
Head of Investment Management, Japan
Chern-Yeh Kwok is head of Japanese equities having transferred from the Singapore team in January 2011. Chern-Yeh joined Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) in 2005 from MSCI Barra where he was an equity research analyst.
Chern-Yeh graduated with a BA in Journalism from the University of Missouri- Columbia and holds an MSc in Finance from the London Business School.
Deputy Head of Investment Management, Japan
Hisashi Arakawa joined Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) in 2016 and is based in the Tokyo office. He has a MPhys in Physics from the University of Oxford and a MBA from INSEAD and is a CFA® charterholder. He was previously vice president in the corporate banking group of Development Bank of Japan.
Head of Equities - Asia Pacific
Flavia Cheong is the Head of Asia Pacific Equities on the Asian Equities team at Aberdeen Standard Investments, where, as well as sharing responsibility for company research, she oversees regional portfolio construction. Before joining Aberdeen Asset Management in 1996, she was an economist with the Investment Company of the People’s Republic of China, and earlier with the Development Bank of Singapore. Flavia graduated with a BA in Economics and an MA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Auckland. She is a CFA charterholder.
CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.
Karen Brade was appointed a director on 1 May 2013 and assumed the Chair in July 2018. She has over 25 years of investment experience in a range of sectors and markets. She began her career at Citibank, working on various multi-national project finance transactions. Between 1994 and 2004 she was an investment principal at CDC Group plc (the UK Government’s Development Finance Institution) where she directed equity and debt investing, portfolio management, fund raising and investor development including India, South Asia, Africa and China. Since 2005 she has been an adviser to hedge funds, family offices and private equity houses and is currently the Audit Committee Chairman of Augmentum Fintech and Chairman of Keystone Investment Trust.
Sam Dean was appointed a director on 1 December 2020. He has a long career in investment banking, working in Equity Capital Markets and corporate finance on behalf of corporate and government clients globally. After starting his career in 1993 at Kleinwort Benson, he subsequently worked as a Managing Director at Citibank (1998-2001), Deutsche Bank (2001-2009), and Barclays (2009-2017). At Deutsche and Barclays, he held senior management positions as Global Head of Equity Capital Markets and Head of Corporate Finance, whilst continuing to work on client transactions.
Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director
Karen Brade was appointed a director on 1 May 2013 and assumed the Chair in July 2018. She has over 25 years of investment experience in a range of sectors and markets. She began her career at Citibank, working on various multi-national project finance transactions. Between 1994 and 2004 she was an investment principal at CDC Group plc (the UK Government’s Development Finance Institution) where she directed equity and debt investing, portfolio management, fund raising and investor development including India, South Asia, Africa and China. Since 2005 she has been an adviser to hedge funds, family offices and private equity houses and is currently the Audit Committee Chairman of Augmentum Fintech and Chairman of Keystone Investment Trust.
Independent Non-Executive Director
Independent Non-Executive Director
Independent Non-Executive Director
Sam Dean was appointed a director on 1 December 2020. He has a long career in investment banking, working in Equity Capital Markets and corporate finance on behalf of corporate and government clients globally. After starting his career in 1993 at Kleinwort Benson, he subsequently worked as a Managing Director at Citibank (1998-2001), Deutsche Bank (2001-2009), and Barclays (2009-2017). At Deutsche and Barclays, he held senior management positions as Global Head of Equity Capital Markets and Head of Corporate Finance, whilst continuing to work on client transactions.
| Year End | 31 March |
| Accounts Published | June |
| Annual General Meeting | July |
| Dividend Paid | July, December |