Canada’s Manulife Investment Management, one of the asset managers appointed under Singapore’s S$5 billion (US$3.86 billion) equities market development programme (EQDP), plans to launch a new fund with emphasis on small and mid-cap firms in the city state.
Its Singapore All-Cap Equity strategy will allocate 40% to local small and mid-cap firms and 60% to large-caps.
The strategy will be “research-driven and benchmark-unconstrained, with stock selection as the primary source of long-term value”, according to Chan Hock Fai, Manulife Investment’s head of equities for Singapore.
“We see tremendous opportunities in Singapore’s small and mid-cap space, which has historically been under-researched and overlooked,” he says a statement on December 3.
Last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore appointed a second batch of six asset managers, including Manulife Investment, to manage a combined S$2.85 billion under the EQDP.
The others are Amova Asset Management, AR Capital, BlackRock, Eastspring Investments and Lion Global Investors.
The first batch of three was appointed in July with funding of S$1.1 billion. They are J.P. Morgan Asset Management from the US and local firms Fullerton Fund Management and Avanda Investment Management.
