Originating Ideas in Emerging Asia

Southeast Asia is often lumped together with broad Global Emerging Markets or Asia Pacific, mandating and warranting just a small allocation in portfolios that are pegged to major indices. The resources of large fund managers are typically allocated accordingly, to larger markets like China and India with little attention paid to what’s happening in Southeast Asia beyond the larger index names.


Despite the region being neglected in a global context, the local markets are vibrant with trading activity dominated by local retail investors and institutions. Our focus on events allows us to apply a rigorous analytical process to situations where there are structural changes and filter the noise of local news flow.

Time and resources are a limitation of any fundamental research process. In our view, the conventional approach of screening based on fundamentals undermines the analytical process and gives no consideration to timing. Using an event or catalyst as a starting point allows us to originate ideas across a broad investment universe that are immediately relevant allows for a flexible analytical process to determine whether the idea is actionable.

WORKING BACKWARDS FROM THE CATALYST

EVENT DRIVEN INVESTMENT APPROACH

Wickhams Hill uses an event-driven approach to complement our fundamental research process. We look for changing situations where there is an informational, analytical, or behavioural advantage.