GOLDMAN SACHS ASSET MANAGEMENT
$11.4bn in Asia (ex-Japan) equities
Flagship product:
GS Asia Portfolio.
Investment and risk management process:
A research-driven approach to stock selection based on fundamental analysis. The investment process is characterised by:
- Bottom-up stock-picking based on in-house, on-the-ground research to determine quality of business, its prospects, and strength of management.
- Disciplined valuation approach based on absolute as well as relative valuations.
- Team-based investment decisions
Industry and country research matrix coverage
Risk management involves:
- Sizing of overweights and underweights
- In-depth research to ensure financial soundness of companies
- Liquidity discipline
- Risk monitored to ensure that significant overweights/underweights are intended and justified
Every portfolio with the same benchmark, outperformance target and cashflows would have substantially the same country allocation, security holdings and portfolio structure.
An independent risk and performance analytics group (RPAG) within GSAM is responsible for monitoring portfolio risk. The RPAG computes and tracks the risk exposure in each individual portfolio compared with its benchmark on a daily basis and operates independently of the portfolio management team.
Team composition
- Shogo Maeda is the Chief Investment Officer of Asia Pacific equities including Japan and is responsible for the portfolio management teams based in Tokyo and Singapore. He has been head of the active Japanese Equity Group in Tokyo and also a key member of the global equity team since 1994. Mr Maeda has taken on additional responsibility for non-Japan Asia since 2001.
He started as a sell-side analyst in Nomura Securities’ Institutional Research and Advisory Department and worked for five years in that position. From 1987 to 1994, he was a senior portfolio manager for Japanese and Asia Pacific equities at Nomura Investment Management, most recently heading up the Japanese equity management group.
- Siew-Hua Thio is vice-president, co-head, Asia ex-Japan equity team in London. She joined GSAM in 1998 as a vice-president in the institutional asian equity portfolio management team with a focus on the banking sector within Asia (ex Japan). In 2001, she assumed co-responsibility for managing the Asian equity team in Singapore on a day-to-day basis. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, she spent five years with Indosuez W. I. Carr as the head of research and was primarily responsible for the banking sector in Asia as well as managing a team of analysts.
- Kenny Tjan is vice-president, co-head, Asia ex-Japan Equity team Singapore. He joined GSAM in December 2001 as co-head of non-Japan Asia portfolio management team. Together with Siew Hua, he manages the Asian Equity team in Singapore on a day-to-day basis, working closely with pan-Asian chief investment officer, Shogo Maeda.
He was an investment director at Rothschild Asset Management Singapore and was involved in the management of both retail and institutional funds. Prior to Rothschild, he spent seven years at Nomura Asset Management, where he was the chief portfolio manager for several large international pension clients investing in non-Japan Asia.
- Vincent Ee is vice-president, Asia ex-Japan equity team in Singapore. He joined GSAM in 2000 as an associate in the institutional Asian equity portfolio management team with a focus on the telecommunications and technology sectors within Asia (ex Japan). His primary countries of focus are Taiwan and Australia and he has secondary responsibility for the Korean market. Prior to joining GSAM, he spent four years working for HSBC Asset Management in New York, Hong Kong and London and was most recently responsible for the telecommunication sector in the US.
Future trends
Although the export sector is slowing, GSAM believes domestic demand in Asia is showing clear signs of a recovery which should mitigate the export slowdown. Domestic consumption has been buoyant, driven by a continued improvement in the employment situation and low real interest rates. Asian interest rates are expected to continue to lag the US cycle due to the abundance of domestic liquidity and continued build up of current account surpluses. Valuations are considered compelling as Asian valuations are close to the bottom of the historical trading range, and discount is still high on a historical basis despite the improving relative returns.
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