Kerry Series

Pan-Asia equities boutique Eight Investment Partners (8IP) yesterday launched two funds under the UCITS III structure to garner assets from investors in Europe and South Africa.

The Dublin-domiciled vehicles – the 8IP Asia-Pacific equity fund, which includes Japan, and the 8IP Asian equity opportunities fund, which does not – became available yesterday through the platform of the manager’s backer, South African financial services group Sanlam.

Rick Steele, executive director of the Sydney-headquartered 8IP, said the manager aimed to sell the UCITS funds to institutional and retail investors in Europe and South Africa through this platform.

He and chief investment officer Kerry Series said that in time 8IP would aim to sell funds through the manager’s new Hong Kong office, which would open in mid-September when newly appointed analyst, Jessie Qian, joins the business to cover Asian consumer stocks.

Qian joins 8IP from Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong, where she was head of China consumer research, 8IP announced in a statement. The manager, which has a total staff of seven and $130 million under management, also employs three analysts in Bangalore.

Series said well-documented Asian consumer theme was a growth driver across the region that carried risks as well as opportunities.

“Our view is that the consumer theme is well-known, so a lot of consumer stocks are quite expensive. By hiring Jesse we’re trying to get some insight into stocks and trends that haven’t been caught by the consensus yet.”

Series said 8IP held a “very bullish” view of Asian markets generally and managed reasonable concentrated portfolio of stocks in the consumer, financial services property, industrials and resources sectors.