The Chinus Fund completed its 10th year on April 30th

The Chinus Fund completed its 10th year on April 30th.  It came into existence on May 1, 2009 when Pete and I launched the fund with $400,000 of our own money.  We used the money to invest in Greenwoods Golden China Plus Fund, a Shanghai-based, mid-cap focused fund that we thought would perform well in a rebounding market.  Our investment jumped 20% in May, another 18% in June, and ended the year up 87%, and Golden China was the best performing China fund over that period.  It was an auspicious start to what has been an incredible journey.  

We now manage five funds totaling approximately $70 million in assets from over 80 investors.

Modest accomplishments, no doubt, in a world of multi-billion dollar funds, but Pete and I have focused on the investment side of the business, and we are proud of the returns we have been able to generate.  Over the past ten years, the Chinus Fund has generated a 222% return since inception, almost triple the 84.7% return of the MSCI China index (offshore listed companies), and seven times the 30.6% return of the MSCI China Onshore index. 

We are deeply appreciative of the support and encouragement we have received from our investors along the way, many of whom have become close friends.  We feel privileged to be entrusted with their hard-earned dollars, and we are focused on generating superior long-term returns that justify this trust.  

Highlights of the past decade include numerous investor trips to Asia, where Pete and I got to share what we see happening there with others.  The magnitude and pace of economic development in emerging Asia has to be seen firsthand to be fully appreciated.  It is especially gratifying when investors gain a better understanding of the vast potential that emerging Asia offers. They often return home as excited about the prospects of our funds as we are.

Highlights from the Past Decade

So where do we go from here?  Relations between the U.S. and China are as perilous as they have ever been since China started opening up in the early 1980’s, primarily due to trade dispute.  There are ironic aspects about the trade war on both sides.   Many of the changes that the Trump administration is demanding, concerning protection of intellectual property, market access and reduced subsidies to state owned enterprises, are changes that private business owners and economic reformers in China support as well.  There is a joke going around the streets in China that future historians will identify the two people most responsible for economic reform in China as Deng Xiaoping and Donald Trump.  

On the other side, the U.S. has record low unemployment.  We do not have enough workers to bring onshore many of the labor-intensive products that China makes.  Our options would be to allow in more immigrants or move the business to other countries, which would not help our overall trade deficit.  In either case, prices will increase, leaving us fewer dollars to save or spend on other things.

We are concerned by the view that the world is a zero-sum game, and that China’s rise has to come at the expense of the U.S.  China’s growth, and the growth of the rest of emerging Asia, creates a bigger pie for everyone.  Consumer spending in emerging Asia is surging.  Leading U.S. consumer brands like Nike, Apple and Starbucks are must-have aspirational products for emerging Asia’s youth, and these companies will be the primary beneficiaries of that growth. 

Even more worrisome are the efforts to portray China as our enemy, which threatens to turn a trade dispute into a new cold war.  That would be a huge mistake that would make both countries much poorer over the long term, to speak nothing of the increased risk of war. 

Pete and I are optimists. We have seen several crises over the past ten years, but the economic boom in emerging Asia continues to roll on.  We strongly believe that the U.S. should be an active participant in Asia’s development and not disengage from it.  We are as confident as we have ever been that investors should have some portion of their portfolio invested in emerging Asia, and that our funds provide superior ways to do that.  Here’s to a peaceful and prosperous decade ahead.

Investor Trip to India

We had a memorable investor trip to India in February.  Our group of 21 spent eleven days traveling to New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, with a two day extension trip to Varanasi.  We attended presentations by Indus managers, visited portfolio companies, heard talks from a handful of dignitaries, and experienced India’s cultural and culinary highlights. 

Business highlights included:

• Economic and investment briefings by all four Indus managers in Bangalore and Mumbai.  The main takeaways were that their portfolio companies are growing earnings at the fastest pace on record, and that the Indian market appears to be poised for a multi-year rally, powered by rapid economic growth, improved utilization rates, and a strong rebound in profits. 
• Meetings with the management teams of portfolio companies Page Industries (underwear and leisure wear), V-Mart Retail (value fashion retailer), Shemaroo Entertainment (Bollywood film and music licensing) and Urban Ladder (online furniture website).  We were particularly struck by the passion and expertise of the management teams.  Their companies have attained highly profitable, leading market positions, but they were focused on doing even better in the future.  All four companies have huge runways for growth.

Cultural highlights included:

• Experiencing the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of India.  There is no country in the world like it.
• Contrasting the ancient splendor of the Taj Mahal with the new office towers in Mumbai and  business parks in Bangalore.
• Visiting Varanasi on the Ganges river to see the spiritual side of India.  Varanasi is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, and holiest Hindu city, and the birthplace of Buddhism.

We undertake these trips to provide investors with the chance to experience firsthand what is happening in Asia.  Contrary to what is often depicted in the press, India and the rest of emerging Asia are booming.  We encourage potential investors to join us on future trips.

Pete Nickerson Receives Philanthropic Award at Portland State University

In November, Pete Nickerson (Co-Founder and Managing Member of Chinus Asset Management) was honored to receive the 2017 Simon Benson Award from Portland State University President Rahmat Shoureshi at the Oregon Convention Center.  The Simon Benson Award honors contemporary pioneers of philanthropy. Recipients are tireless community leaders who give generously of their time and resources and whose legacies will affect lives for generations. The Simon Benson Award for alumni achievement honors outstanding alumni recognized for service, achievement, and for inspiring perpetual support to PSU.  Proceeds from the Simon Benson Awards Dinner benefit the Fund for PSU, providing support for promising and deserving students, exceptional faculty, and innovative programs at the University.

Pete Nickerson is a global entrepreneur with several decades of US - Asia business experience. The former general manager of Nike in China, Pete is a fluent Mandarin speaker who has conducted business throughout Asia and lived for extended periods in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Pete has been deeply involved in both Asian and US public and private equity markets over the past four decades and has built an extensive network in Asia through his role as director of Growth-Link Overseas Company, a Hong Kong–based investment firm he co-founded in 1988.

Pete serves as chair of the PSU Board of Trustees and, along with his wife Chris, has been a generous supporter of PSU since 2009. He is past chair of the PSU Foundation Board of Trustees and was co-chair of PSU’s Creating Futures scholarship campaign which exceeded its $50 million goal in 2015. Pete received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon in 1979. 

The whole team at Chinus Asset Management is proud and grateful for Pete’s continued community involvement.

Chinus Asset Management Discusses Emerging Asia in DarcMatter August 2017 Profile

Read the full interview here

Chinus Asset Management selected by Eurekahedge for October Manager Profile

We are delighted to report that Eurekahedge has selected Chinus Asset Management for its monthly manager profile for October.  In the past, Eurekahedge has only profiled hedge fund managers.  This is the first time they have profiled a fund of funds manager.  As Eurekahedge CEO Alexander Mearns remarked during his interview with Charles Mautz earlier this month in Singapore, “You’re [Chinus Asset Management] not only outperforming most Asian fund of funds, you’re also outperforming most Asian hedge funds.  Most Asian hedge funds would be quite envious of your return profile.”  To watch the interview, please click here.  Eurekahedge is leading global database of alternative asset funds.

Chinus Investor Trip to China

A group of 15 investors joined us on a 12-day trip to China this month.  We traveled to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to meet with our managers and visit their portfolio companies, as well as experience China’s cultural and culinary highlights. 

Business highlights included:

• Receiving economic and investment briefings from Chinus managers.  We learned how they are finding investment opportunities in consumer and new economy companies that are experiencing high growth but trade at attractive valuations.
• Visiting portfolio company iFLYTEK’s showroom to see applications of its voice recognition software in cars, entertainment systems, appliances and intelligent controls.  iFLYTEK has achieved over 40% annual revenue growth over the past five years and counts BMW and Samsung among its clients.  Its GM told us that they expect revenue to grow substantially faster over the next three years as the “Internet of Things” takes off.
• Meeting with Chen Qiyu, Chairman of Fosun Pharma, one of China’s leading healthcare companies to hear their growth strategy.

Cultural highlights included:

• Private tour of the newly restored former residence of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty inside the Forbidden City.
• Meeting with acclaimed fashion designer Han Feng at her studio in Shanghai where she discussed her creative philosophy and previewed her latest clothing line.
• Farewell reception and dinner at the China Club in Hong Kong hosted by Pete Nickerson with his honored guests Liu Mingkan, formerly the first Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission and Chairman and President of Bank of China, and Jon Dolfin, a renowned Tibet scholar.

After the trip, investor Carl Christoferson commented:

We witnessed firsthand the exuberance, economic drive and immensity of China and its people.  There are approximately 400 million hungry millennials driven commercially to consume which means they want to learn and earn to support this hunger.  Even though the economy has, as you have read, materially grown over the past decade I believe there is significantly more growth to be realized.  Retail rules in the big cities.  Their ability to accomplish things quickly is dazzling.  They are a “can do/will do” society.  Their commercial/retail streets and Alibaba (a hybrid of Amazon and eBay) are selling products and services at world record levels – we saw and experienced it – it’s a frenzy.  All the commercial questions I asked were addressed rationally (real estate bubble, corporate debt levels, slowing economy, sustainability and pollution initiatives, etc.…).

We believe it is incredibly valuable for people to travel to China and the rest of emerging Asia to see for themselves what is going on.  It is a different world than what is portrayed in the press.  We are planning to organize similar trips to India and SE Asia. 

Investors Look To Emerging Asia For Returns

Emerging Asian markets have continued to rise in August, particularly China.  Investor sentiment towards emerging Asia has improved markedly since Brexit occurred in June.  This marks the first time since we formed Chinus Asset Management in 2008 that investor sentiment towards emerging Asia improved following a global macro crisis.  As the Wall Street Journal reported last month:

Emerging markets aren’t a haven—but they look like a compelling alternative to the bigger concerns that still lie in developed markets.  One month after the Brexit vote, and one week after the Turkish coup attempt, emerging markets show no signs of flagging. In fact, the surprise success story of the year appears to be gathering momentum…  What were headwinds for emerging-market investors are turning into tailwinds. 

Investors have pumped close to $13 billion into emerging-market stock funds over the past six weeks.

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As a result, emerging market valuations have been recovering from near record lows at the beginning of the year.  They are still substantially less expensive than developed country valuations.

In a world starved for returns, emerging Asia is one of the few regions with both rapid economic growth and attractive valuations. 

China: As the “Emerging Destination” chart in the Asius section above shows, investors continue to be wary of China even as they rush into other emerging markets.  We, on the other hand, have a contrarian view and are bullish on China.  Our outlook is based on several factors:

• Our managers in China have relatively high earnings growth forecasts for their portfolio companies for 2016 that have not yet shown up in the stock prices.  If their portfolio companies achieve 20-50% earnings growth, as our managers forecast, then stock prices will experience similar gains, assuming valuation multiples remain constant.
• Chinese market valuations are rebounding off of historic lows but still very attractive.  MSCI China (which primarily track Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong) trades at 11.2x while the CSI300 (Shanghai index) trades at 12.6x.  There is room for multiple expansion as valuations revert back to mean.  
• The Chinese government announced that the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect program will begin in Q4.  Foreign investors will have access to 673 Shenzhen-listed companies with total market cap of $1.9 trillion.  Chinese investors will get access to an additional 120 small cap stocks listed in Hong Kong with total market cap of $227 billion.  When the Shanghai-HK Stock Connect program was initiated in late 2014, both onshore and offshore markets surged.  
• Access to Shenzhen stocks is one of the key remaining hurdles for A-share market inclusion in MSCI indexes.  Goldman Sachs estimates that China’s weight in MSCI indexes will increase substantially over the next two years as A-share market weighting increases.  Each 1% increase of the MSCI Emerging Market index represents $15 billion of inflows into A-shares.

India: Indian markets have recovered strongly since February, pushing up P/E ratios above 20x compared to 17x historical average.  However, the high multiples are less of a concern in India because corporate profits are forecast to grow strongly over the next several years.

Chinus Asset Management (CHAM), a U.S. West Coast-based asset management firm, provides investors exposure to the alpha-generating growth in China, India, South Korea and Southeast Asia, by utilizing an active investment strategy and local managers in each region.

© 2016, Chinus Asset Management, LLC

The Case for Vietnam

A trip this month to Ho Chi Minh City showed just how rapidly Vietnam is progressing.  Chic restaurants and boutique hotels line the streets.  Young people crowd into internet cafes and coffee shops.  Foreigners, including South Korean industrialists, Swiss investment managers, French chefs and Australian backpackers clog the airports.  Vietnam is attracting attention for good reason.

This is especially true from an investment perspective.  Vietnam is one of the most promising frontier markets.  Although it is poorer, and its equity markets are smaller and less developed than many of its Asian cousins, Vietnam is catching up rapidly.  If it is able to do so, it will create substantial shareholder wealth in the decades ahead.  

Vietnam has several attractive macro characteristics that are contributing to rapid economic growth.

Large, young and educated population.  Vietnam has 94 million people, the third most populous ASEAN country after Indonesia and the Philippines.  The average age is under 30, and only 35% live in cities.  Even so, the literacy rate is above 95%.  Population dynamics should provide a large boost to economic growth as more people enter the workforce, and move to cities and take on more productive jobs.

Competitive labor costs.  The average Vietnamese worker earns less than $200 per month, less than half the cost of a Chinese worker and among the cheapest in Asia. As a result, Vietnam is experiencing a surge in foreign direct investment as manufacturers look for alternatives to China.

Rapid increase in per capita income and consumption. Vietnam is approaching the inflection point where income per person has shot up in other Asian countries (known as the S-curve for income growth).  This cycle typically leads to a surge in consumer spending as people can increasingly afford aspirational items.

These factors are contributing to forecasted economic growth of 6.7% in 2016, among the highest in the world.  

The Vietnam stock market, which was launched in 2000 with two stocks, now has almost 700 listed companies with total market capitalization of $61 billion. 

The government recently passed several critical reforms that should provide a large boost to the stock market.  These include:

• In September the government relaxed the 49% ownership limit for foreign investors to 100% for all companies except banks and a few strategically important sectors.  Previously, several companies had been at the 49% limit for several years, which was a major restraint on foreign participation.
• The government is aggressively selling off state owned enterprises by listing them. There were 222 IPO’s of SOE’s in 2015 and another 174 companies have been identified for listing.
• Increasing the level of corporate disclosures, which is one of the last hurdles necessary for MSCI to promote Vietnam from a “frontier” market to an “emerging” market.  Attaining emerging market status would open up its stock markets to a much larger pool of investors. 

Vietnam currently trades at a significant valuation discount to other Asian markets even though its companies generate a much higher return on equity and pay out one of the highest dividends. It is attractive on many fronts.

We believe that the best way to capitalize on the growth of Vietnam’s equity markets is to do so through locally based managers with deep knowledge of local markets and companies.  We specifically seek out managers that excel at identifying rapidly growing companies that are often overlooked or misunderstood by the market. 

Surprisingly for a frontier market, Vietnam has several fund management firms with long track records and large teams of analysts.  We look forward to adding one or more Vietnam managers to our portfolio. Although Vietnam is still in the early stages of development, we believe it is poised for take-off.

Chinus Asset Management (CHAM), a U.S. West Coast-based asset management firm, provides investors exposure to the alpha-generating growth in China, India, South Korea and Southeast Asia, by utilizing an active investment strategy and local managers in each region.

© 2016, Chinus Asset Management, LLC.

India Readies for More Dovish Fed and Bull Rally

India has been firing on all cylinders to lay the groundwork for invigorated, tangible domestic growth and to shore up its diplomatic currency globally.

Under Modi’s leadership over the past two years, India has (i) implemented a nationwide social security system and comprehensive bankruptcy code, (ii) overhauled a decades-old tax treaty network along the Mauritius-India and Singapore-India corridors, (iii) digitized its incorporation and e-governance platforms and (iv) streamlined approvals in more consolidated and transparent fashion.

Abroad, it has been aggressively negotiating alliances across Asia, and globally, to position itself as a national partner for manufacturing, consumption and investment. Its most recent diplomatic ambitions have included lobbying for recognition as a global strategic and defence partner of the US, and a push for inclusion in the NSG.

The progress has been demonstrable for investors. Private equity saw more exits, venture capital deals boomed, and distress players should soon reap the rewards of the government's focus on cleaning up the balance sheets of public sector banks.

Indian equities, however, haven’t yet reflected the tailwinds of these reforms, due to global macro conditions triggered by the U.S. tapering of its decade-long quantitative easing policy.

But, a few explosive kickers now lie in store for Indian equities:

One, the much anticipated uniform goods and services tax (GST) is now widely surmised to pass in the upper house of Parliament, where it has been blocked by opposition parties to date. Once passed, it should normalize national supply chains, payment processing and revenue collection on a scale never before experienced across India’s 29 states.

Second, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s recent announcement that he will not seek a renewed term as chief of the Reserve Bank of India confirms India’s intention to appoint a more dovish Fed head who we can expect will pare back interest rates, a move that many domestic voices are pushing for in order to further propel India into the limelight as the world's fastest growing economy.

Third, this week, the Modi administration finally opened up FDI in sectors such as defense and pharma to majority foreign ownership, and relaxed local sourcing rules for single brand retail. These changes should jumpstart a backlog of stalled deals into action and further stimulate increased foreign direct investment into India.

A big importer of energy, India is wise to move quickly to ride its favorable momentum while the global price of crude oil remains low, as a continued rise in oil prices or spike in domestic inflation could slow its sprint. Those negative factors notwithstanding, one can expect corporate earnings in India to get a big boost in the medium term assuming these kickers pan out as intended.

The author, Asma Chandani, is Managing Director and General Counsel at Chinus Asset Management, a U.S. West Coast-based asset management firm that provides investors exposure to the alpha-generating growth in China, India, South Korea and Southeast Asia, by utilizing an active investment strategy and local managers in each region.

The Case for Indonesia

During a recent visit to Jakarta, it was evident that Indonesians are optimistic. Investment managers, business leaders and taxi drivers all voiced their opinion that things are getting better and that the future is bright. Up to now, Indonesia has generally punched below its weight. It is often lumped together with its other ASEAN neighbors Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. However, Indonesia appears to be poised for a break out. If it is able to achieve its vast potential, Indonesia deserves to be treated as a distinct investment focus and not just as a member of ASEAN.

With 255 million people, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and the largest in ASEAN. Its economy is also the largest in ASEAN.

After several years of slowing growth, Indonesia’s economy is poised for a strong recovery.  President Jokowi has recently pushed through important reforms, including opening up much more of the economy to foreign investment, reducing red tape, and implementing a series of stimulus packages. These measures are having an impact. Foreign direct investment jumped 16.9% YoY in Q4 2015, and economic growth is forecast to top 5% in 2016 and accelerate thereafter.

Longer term, Indonesia’s economy will be driven by two areas:

• Consumption: Indonesia’s middle class is forecast to almost double from 74 million people in 2012 to 141 million in 2020. Consumer spending is forecast to grow from $480 billion to $820 billion over that period.

• Infrastructure: Jokowi is focusing on infrastructure spending to spur economic growth. Government infrastructure spending increased 47% in 2015 and is expected to increase an additional 32% in 2016. This follows several years of underinvestment that has resulted in higher logistic costs (27% of GDP in Indonesia vs. 13% in Malaysia) and bottlenecks that have limited growth.  

McKinsey forecasts that Indonesia will need to spend $600 billion over the next decade to meet its infrastructure needs. The government has the capacity. The fiscal deficit is a modest 2.5% of GDP and aggregate government debt is only 29%.  

In addition, Indonesian economic growth is expected to be boosted by a demographic divided as half the population is under 30, and a rapid expansion of intra-ASEAN trade as barriers come down. Overall, these factors could boost annual economic growth rates above 7% for the next several years. In fact, the Economist Intelligence Unit forecast that Indonesia’s economy will grow to become the 4th largest in the world by 2050.   

Indonesia’s size and relatively rapid rate of economic growth should gain increasing investor attention in the years ahead.  Mid and small caps look particularly attractive right now as they have declined by over 40% over the past three years (2013-15).

We are planning to increase our Asia fund’s exposure to Indonesia and are considering investing with an Indonesia-focused manager. We share the optimism of the Indonesian people.

Chinus Asset Management (CHAM), a U.S. West Coast-based asset management firm, provides investors exposure to the alpha-generating growth in China, India, South Korea and Southeast Asia, by utilizing an active investment strategy and local managers in each region.

© 2016, Chinus Asset Management, LLC.