No small feat: managers leading the way in smaller names

Three newly-covered small and mid-cap sectors have entered Citywire’s investment analysis for the first time, but who is making a big noise in these smaller markets?

Extending our database has already revealed new names in both equity and fixed income sectors, and now we have added equity global small and mid-cap, equity Asia Pacific small and mid-cap, and equity Taiwan small and mid-cap to the analysis.

Taking into account these new additions, small and mid-cap sectors are well represented at present, with 10 markets now covered.

Looking at the new markets, to date, no manager has achieved a three-year track record in the Taiwanese small and mid-cap market, but there is already healthy competition in the global and Asia Pacific small and mid-cap sectors.

So who is standing out from the pack in these two respective fields?

Equity Asia Pacific Sm&Mid Cap

Top performing manager: Mark Mobius, Templeton Asian Smaller Companies

Three year total returns (average manager performance): 200.2% (143.68%)

Veteran emerging markets investor and Euro Stars A-rated manager Mark Mobius is making strides in the Asia Pacific small & mid-cap sector, returning almost 60% more than the average manager in the sector over the past three years.

The $226.3 million fund was launched in October 2008 and has a strong geographical focus on South Korea (28.4%), India (21.3%) and China (18.6%).

These are the three largest country bets and are all considerable overweights to the MSCI AC Asia ex-Japan Small Cap Index benchmark. Meanwhile, Mobius has a pronounced underweight to Taiwan, with his allocation currently 16% below benchmark.

On the stock side, Mobius favours retail (14.9%) and materials (10.6%), while steering clear of capital goods, where he has 6% of the fund compared to a benchmark allocation of 10.6%.

The largest single bet in the portfolio is on high-end Hong Kong-based clothes retailer Giordano International, which makes up over 4.5% of the fund.