Schroders waives fee on AAA-rated Parbrook and Fuei Lee's Asia trust

Schroders and the board of Henderson Asian Growth have decided to simplify the investment trust's fees and waive them until September.

After winning the mandate from Henderson, Schroders will introduce a base fee of 0.65% of gross assets, less cash, and an annual performance fee of 10% of net asset value (NAV) total return in excess of 7%.

The aggregate base and performance fees will be capped at 2% of net assets, Schroders said, though the asset manager and board of the trust have decided to waive fees for the first six months of their tenure.

This means the performance fee will not kick in until September, giving investors cheap access to its new AAA-rated fund managers.

New managers Robin Parbrook and King Fuei Lee will look to deliver a high rate of total return primarily by investing in equity and equity related securities of Asia Pacific countries, excluding Japan.

Parbrook and Fuei Lee, two senior Schroders' portfolio managers based in the Far East, also run the $2 billion Schroder ISF Asia Total Return fund , a Luxembourg open-ended fund that is soft-closed to new investment.

By way of comparison to Henderson Asian Growth, the institutional share class management fee on Schroder ISF is 1% per annum, with no performance fee.

The fund is ranked top of the open-end emerging market income sector, having delivered 59.5% over the three years to the end of February, versus a 34.1% rise in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

But despite losing the mandate to Schroders, Henderson Asian Growth outperformed under the stewardship of Andrew Beal.

Over the three years ended 31 December, the trust delivered a 33.2% rise in share price and grew its portfolio by 18.4%.