Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders Sustainability Fund

Google the term ‘Asia’s growth story’. It’s a fascinating subject, across a region of the world that has changed beyond recognition over the last 25 years.

Part of this change has been the increase in household income, which means more money to spend on consumer goods such as washing machines and cars. This has taken a further leap forward, with households today having sufficient income to spend on luxury goods such as fashion, beauty products and jewellery. And this boost in spending has led to the creation of giant Asian companies to meet the demand.

It’s more than just China

Although China dominates the region, it’s more than just investing in China itself – it’s a much bigger story, that encompasses the whole of the Asia Pacific region. Trade between one country and another in this region of the world has been increasing quite considerably for many years. In fact, in November last year, 10 South East Asian countries, including China, South Korea and Australia, formed the world’s largest trading bloc, called the ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership’ (RCEP).

This multilateral trade pact covers a region that makes up nearly a third of the world’s population – dwarfing all other global trade agreements ever in history, including the European Union.

It highlights just how important Asia is in terms of an independent economic entity without reliance on western economies.

It also highlights the importance of the region as an investment opportunity, to sit in investment portfolios alongside investments in shares of UK, European and US companies.

If you are looking to invest in this part of the world, you may well consider the Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders Sustainability Fund, as a way to capture this regional growth phenomenon.

Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders Sustainability Fund

What sets this fund out against other Asian funds is the focus on what they call ‘defensive’ companies.

They do this by looking for high quality companies that have the potential to deliver sustainable and predictable growth over the long term, but instead of just focusing on how far the share price can go up, they also look at the possible downside – how much they could possibly lose.

They do this in an attempt to mitigate losses when markets are falling. Investors need to bear in mind that making money over the long term is not just about trying to identify the most successful companies, it’s also about trying to avoid the pitfalls and dangers when markets fall.

Asia is an exciting place to be. As an investor, it could be an attractive region to consider if you have a long-term investment horizon. There are also three more funds on the Barclays Funds List which focus on Asia, including the Fidelity Asia Fund and the Janus Henderson Asian Dividend Income Fund.

If you prefer to take an even more ‘general’ exposure to emerging markets, you may also wish to look at funds that invest across the entire global emerging markets space. There are two such funds on the Barclays Funds List. Find out more information on these funds.

To diversify your investment, you may like to consider our own Barclays Ready-Made Investments (RMI). The RMI are just one example of a range of diversified funds which allow you to select the level of risk you are most comfortable with. These multi-asset funds invest in passive funds across a range of asset classes and regions, offering a globally diversified one-stop solution for investors. Ready-made Investments are not the only funds that we offer and they won’t be appropriate for everyone.

Whichever option you choose, you must accept that all investments can still fall in value as well as rise and you might get back less than you invest.

Past performance of the fund and its manager are not a reliable indicator of their future performance.

We don’t offer personal investment advice so if you’re unsure you should seek that independently.

Funds are designed for the long term so you should only consider them if you can stay invested for at least five years.

These are our current opinions but the future, as ever, is uncertain and outcomes may differ.

Read the Assessment of Value report [PDF, 683KB] for funds run by Barclays.