Asian dividend shopping

In mid-2005, when Singapore-based portfolio manager Jeremy Whitley was making the rounds of his clients, he was asked one question again and again: Did he have an Asia ex-Japan high-yielding equities fund to offer? He didn't, though clearly the appetite for one was there.

现在他做了。10月份，Whitley的公司Aberdeen资产管理，开始营销其Aberdeen亚洲收入基金。U.K. Money Manager希望在5000万英镑（8750万美元）和100万英镑之间的资金，这可以投资于股票和债券。当它于12月15日关闭时，该基金已从约500名投资者筹集了1.1亿英镑。观察Whitley，“那里有明显的需求和小产品。”

In the past, the veteran portfolio manager says, "you wanted Asia because you wanted some spice, you wanted growth, you wanted capital appreciation." But in recent years a growing number of Asia-Pacific ex-Japan companies -- from financials to utilities to industrials -- have either begun paying dividends or have boosted their payout ratios, making an equity-income strategy more attractive to investors.

Last year Asia-Pacific ex-Japan companies paid a combined $70 billion in dividends, twice their payout in 2002. Back in 1997, the year the Asian fiscal crisis began, companies in the region paid just $15 billion in dividends.

The dividend boom reflects a new outlook among many Asian CEOs: Whereas they once focused primarily on growth, they now pay greater attention to managing capital. Says K.C. Lee, manager of Fidelity International's $560 million Asia Pacific Growth & Income Fund, which was launched in December 2004: "Years ago we would have had a difficult time finding enough high-yielding stocks to have a fund with this focus. But now there is a greater awareness on the part of Asian companies that they should manage their capital structures to enhance return on equity." As of year-end 2005, Lee counted 130 stocks in his portfolio.

根据ABN AMRO的一项研究，许多公开交易亚洲亚洲亚洲亚洲企业已清理其资产负债表，报告2005年的平均债务持续比例为25％，而今年的预计持续值为20％，根据ABN AMRO的一项研究。比较2003年的35％和1998年的60％。

"Generally, companies have good cash flow," says Kerry Series, equities investment director at HSBC Halbis Partners and manager of HSBC's $242 million Asia Pacific ex Japan Equity High Dividend Fund, which was launched in November 2004. "Debt levels are low, and companies have a lot of cash."

在薪酬的公司中：印度尼西亚的银行Mandiri，预测收益率为8.1％，德雷电子，一家台湾电气设备制造商，其预测产量为4％。相比之下，平均标准和差的500指数库存产生1.73％;典型的MSCI欧洲份额2.31％;平均日本日式日京225股，0.92％。

But as Asia ex-Pacific stock prices have risen in the past two years, yields have come down for many stocks. For that reason, suggests Mark Mobius, head of the $996 million Templeton Emerging Markets Fund and a 30-plus-year investor in Asia, buying stocks with high yields has become somewhat less attractive. In addition, Mobius cautions, "the risk of further interest rate hikes presents another challenge, presuming one is a U.S. dollar investor."

一些投资组合经理耕作这个领域选择重新投资他们的股息的更好部分，而其他人则为他们的基金会分配综合分享。

One of the pioneers in the yield game is the $38 million Principal Asia Pacific High Dividend Equity Fund, which was launched in December 2002, when the region's economic recovery was just beginning to look sustainable. Today it is sold only in Macau and Hong Kong. "At the time, values were fairly decent," says Binay Chandgothia, chief investment officer at Principal Asset Management Co. (Asia) in Hong Kong. "Since then equity markets have done well."

Between its inception and October 2005, the Principal fund, which holds some 65 stocks and reinvests dividends, posted a 101.8 percent return, compared with a 94.5 percent rise in the MSCI Asia Pacific Free ex-Japan index.

Chandgothia采取了自下而上的方法来对投资组合管理 - 他看着个人股票超过经济部门。投资组合经理在预计的现金流量的基础上设定至少4％的屈服目标并屏幕潜在的控股。

His fund's top five positions, ranked by the size of the holding: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ Banking Group, Australia-headquartered mining concern BHP Billiton, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and PetroChina Co.

由系列管理的汇丰银行基金寻找具有强大现金流量的公司和资产负债表上大量现金。他通常在他的投资组合中拥有大约80个名字。系列喜欢为长期拥有股票，通常在18个月到三年之间。他的营业额达到33％至75％，而许多基金组合转超过100％以上。

一般来说，系列寻求一年增长10％或更多的公司，并产生至少5％。

The HSBC investment director likes Asia ex-Japan financial companies because they have "high deposits," but HSBC has "not seen high loan growth" in an environment of decent profits. Among his top ten holdings: Indonesia's Bank Mandiri and Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia (forecast yield: 6.3 percent). He also favors utilities and telecommunications companies because they are mature businesses with steady incomes. His fund's other top holdings include Singapore's Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund, yielding 7 percent, and Yellow Pages Singapore, yielding 6.8 percent. HSBC also owns a small position in Hong Kong's Link Real Estate Investment Trust, which controls more than $3 billion in public housing, shopping malls and car parks.

系列倾向于避免高科技公司。“他们需要大量的再投资，”他说，这使得他们的现金流量和股息支付难以预测。

当他考虑一家公司为他的投资组合而言，阿伯丁的惠特利在亚洲投资十年，才密切关注管理人员如何对待少数股东。“我们需要公司公平地对待我们，”他说。“我们希望等于其他股东。”

Although the five-month-old Aberdeen fund invests the vast majority of its assets in equities, its mandate allows it to invest in debt, convertible securities and warrants. At any given time, Whitley expects his fund to own 30 to 40 stocks. He seeks well-run enterprises with strong balance sheets that reliably throw off excess cash.

Aberdeen的投资组合包括台湾移动台湾，台湾的三个领先的手机供应商之一（8.6％的收益率），泰国的暹罗水泥集团（6.1％）和电信新西兰（6.4％）。“这些公司是良好的，有利可图的企业，彻底根深蒂固，不需要太多的新资本投资，”惠特利说。

但是，他奇迹关于股息支付的可持续性。他说，在利润很强的时候，公司将提供良好的股息，但在利润疲软时，股息可能会被削减股息。当然，这种模式持有更成熟的证券市场，但惠特利认为慷慨的支出之间的懒散在亚洲市场上没有支付可能更加极端。

尽管如此，菲律宾的李仍然有信心投资者将继续要求高产股权基金，即使股息的公司供应持续下降。

“亚太地区的大多数共同基金都是成长为导向的，”李说。“由于这些基金对这些资金的竞争力，有一种倾向于积极地管理。但对于投资者的整体组合来说，将低风险与高风险混合起来是有意义的。”