For over two decades, the Nomura Taiwan Superior Equity Fund has generated consistent outperformance from its single-country, Taiwanese securities Fund.

The fund’s core investment strategy is growth, allocating 60-70% of its portfolio to companies with stable and sustainable growth and 20-30% towards companies demonstrating rapid growth.

This approach emphasizes a firm conviction in the fundamentals of its portfolio companies and bias against active trading. For example, during the volatile market in March 2020, the Manager kept portfolio trading to a minimum of just 21.5% turnover compared to an industry average of 53% without impacting returns, which is highly commendable.

The fund has ESG policies in place, which are considered for 65-79% of the investment process steps. While considering the impact of the investment group on the social environment and the rigor of corporate governance, the core and satellites are appropriately allocated in the investment group. However, we note a clear corporate governance structure has not been formulated with no apparent investees/potential investees engagement monthly, which drives concerns over responsible shareholding commitment.

The fund delivered an excellent performance with net returns of 300 basis points above the benchmark on a 1Y, 3Y, 5Y, and 10Y period, while at the same time, most significant drawdowns have been limited to 15-20%.

This fund has been reviewed by four industry veterans of the Benchmark judging committee.