Sydney-based specialist equity fund manager, PM CAPITAL, has today successfully listed its second listed investment company (LIC) on the ASX – the PM CAPITAL Asian Opportunities Fund Limited (ASX:PAF).
PM CAPITAL has raised $225 million across two IPO’s since November 2013. The second IPO was targeted at investors looking for specific global exposure in the Asian region, and raised $54 million across 1,325 investors, varying in size.
Chairman of the PAF, Brett Spork, said the listing is reflective of a growing investor appetite for Australian investors wanting to diversify offshore and further recognising that Australian stocks which previously exposed investors to the Asian growth story, may no longer be a viable proxy.
“Investors are realising that in order to get exposure to Asia, they need to look beyond BHP and RIO, and really exploit where the growth opportunities in the Asian Pacific region will be over the next decade- the 4 billion evolving consumers who are growing in affluence”.
Chris Donohoe, CEO of PM CAPITAL, said the global LICs were attractive as the consensus from brokers was that the LIC structure appealed to SMSF investors, who require greater diversification to offshore equities.
“While there are numerous competing Australian LICs, the number of globally focused LICs is minimal, and the timing was ideal with the Australian dollar at elevated levels”.
Donohoe thanked the brokers involved in the raising, who contributed to the majority of the capital raised.
“We specifically thank Ord Minnett, Taylor Collison, CBA Equities and Morgans for their support of helping raise $54,203,942 across 1,325 shareholders. The stapled price of combined Shares and Options commenced trading today at $1.06”.
“While we had almost 500 financial planners across the country attend our roadshow, the vast majority of the capital raised came form the brokers. We expect planners to access the opportunity through their more traditional methods, which is why we have the products available on major platforms like Colonial First State and Macquarie Wrap”.
PM CAPITAL is a Sydney based specialist equity and income fund manager that was founded in 1998 and manages $1.7 billion in funds under management (as at 30 April 2014). The firm is owner-operated and has a long-term track record of managing equity portfolios. The investment process is a research-intensive, bottom-up approach that results in the portfolio holding high conviction positions in companies that are assessed to be trading below their long term intrinsic value.
The Company’s proposed investment mandate has been based on the guidelines of the PM CAPITAL Emerging Asia Fund (EAF), which has achieved a total return of 188.9%, since its inception in 2008, which compares favourably against the MSCI Asia (ex Japan) Equity Index (Net Dividends Reinvested, AUD) total return of 16.6% (as at 30 April 2014).