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Fidelity's Bolton to focus on China fund
(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-27 08:02
Fidelity International's Anthony Bolton, one of the UK's best known and top performing asset managers, said he plans to return to managing money next year, with a focus on the increasingly important China market.
Bolton, who retired from active fund management in 2007, said he would move to Hong Kong early next year to manage a new China investment portfolio, which would likely be launched at the end of the first quarter of 2010.
"The center of gravity is shifting to this part of the world and I want to play a part in it while I can," Bolton, a 30-year veteran of Fidelity, told a media briefing.
Bolton shot to fame for managing the Fidelity Special Situations fund since 1979, turning every 1,000 pounds ($1,670) invested at its launch to 148,200 pounds over the 28 years that he ran the fund, according to Fidelity.
Bolton, 59, is not the first high-profile British executive to announce plans to move closer to China in recent months. HSBC said in September that its chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, was moving to Hong Kong from London.
"It's not just Bolton, nobody can afford to ignore China," said Xav Feng, head of China research at Lipper.
Fidelity International, which has been investing in China for 16 years, has $210.1 billion in assets under management globally and around $4.5 billion in its China funds.
Fidelity International is an affiliate of Boston-based Fidelity Investments, the world's biggest mutual fund company.
Bolton said his preference for privately owned Chinese companies over State-owned enterprises was slowly changing as most recent scandals had involved private companies while government-controlled companies had access to the best deals.
He has been investing in China since 2005, in a professional and personal capacity, and has been visiting the country twice a year to meet Chinese companies. Bolton said he met 14 companies during this visit, including some newly listed entities.
"A typical British investor has about 15 percent of his portfolio invested in emerging markets now and the rest in the developed world, but that will change in the next few years," he said.
Bolton said the "bargain stage" for Chinese stocks was over, but average valuations of Chinese companies were still in line with their long-term averages.
"It would have been lovely if we could have launched this fund earlier this year," he said.
Bolton said he expected long-term currency and stock market gains in China and a year into a bull market may be too early to start fretting about asset bubbles in the economy.
"I believe in my lifetime, China will become the second-largest stock market in the world," he said.
