GREATLINK GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY FUND (FUND DETAILS)

Transcription

1 Fund Details version 24 (Errors & Omissions excepted) With effect from May 2015 GREATLINK GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY FUND (FUND DETAILS) The objective of the ILP Sub-Fund is to achieve long-term capital growth through investment in global technology stocks. It offers exposure to the rapidly growing adoption of technology across economies worldwide. Specifically, it aims to achieve high returns by investing in technology companies as well as in a range of industries where the growth opportunities have been impacted by technological developments. FUND FACTS (as at 31 March 2015) Currency Singapore Dollar Valuation Frequency Daily Fund Manager Sub Manager Wellington Management Singapore Pte Ltd* Country of Domicile Singapore Inception Date 15 January 2001 Fund Management Fee (p.a.) 1.60% (3.25% max) Custodian Fee (p.a.) 0.012% Trustee Fee (p.a.) N.A. Fund Structure Single Fund Fund Size $ million CPFIS Included CPFIS-OA Risk Category Higher Risk Narrowly Focused * As a result of corporate modernization, Wellington Management Singapore Pte Ltd has assumed the rights, benefits, duties and obligations of Wellington International Management Company Pte Ltd with effect from 1 January PAST PERFORMANCE (as at 31 March 2015) Annualized Returns (%) 1 year 3 years 5 years 10 years Since Inception GreatLink Global Technology Fund Benchmark** ** Since inception till 28 February 2003: benchmark was MSCI World IT Index. From 1 March 2003 till 31 October 2006: benchmark was MSCI AC World IT Index (Gross). With effect from 1 November 2006, benchmark is MSCI AC World IT Free (Net). The change in benchmark is to better reflect the actual investments of the ILP Sub-Fund. Source: Morningstar Performance (%) indicated above is on bid bid basis, with all dividends and distributions reinvested, taking into account all charges which would have been payable upon such reinvestment. The performance of the ILP Sub-Fund is not guaranteed and the value of investments and income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Fees and charges payable through deduction of premiums or cancellation of units are excluded from performance calculation. INVESTMENT APPROACH The approach to technology sector investing is based on analyzing the competitive outlook for various sub-sectors of the technology industry, identifying those sub-sectors likely to benefit from the current and expected future environment, and identifying individual opportunities within each sub-sector. Asset allocation within the portfolio reflects the relative attractiveness of stocks within the sub-sectors, near-term macroeconomic events that may detract or enhance the group s attractiveness, and the number of undervalued opportunities in each sub-sector. Opportunities dictate the magnitude and frequency of changes in asset allocation among technology sub-industries, but some representation typically is maintained in each major group to avoid excessive concentration. Allocation decisions The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited (Reg. No G) 1/6

2 are made collectively by the Sub Manager s investment team. The evaluation of technology companies rests on the solid knowledge of the overall competitive environment including supply and demand characteristics, secular trends, existing product evaluations, and new product developments. The central theme is that less than efficiently-priced stocks can be found through extensive fundamental research. By focusing on early identification of the factors that lead to earnings revisions, fund manager is able to determine favorable investment opportunities not yet recognized in the market. The primary research is focused on direct contact with company management, suppliers, and competitors. External sources, including Street research, are primarily used for comparative purposes. The investment approach is opportunistic. After identifying a potentially attractive company, the analyst examines how the stock has been valued historically against Street consensus estimates during various market environments (e.g., accelerating and decelerating earnings momentum, differing industry fundamentals). This comparison helps determine whether the fundamental change is already in the price. The fund manager then calculates the range of potential future earnings outcomes resulting from the change, identifying the most compelling investment cases for inclusion in the portfolio. While technology companies tend to have high growth rates, their varying earnings visibility and cyclicality cause their stocks to carry a range of valuations spanning both the growth and value spectrums. Security selection decisions are based on in-depth fundamental analysis and valuation. INFORMATION ON THE MANAGER One of the largest asset managers in Southeast Asia, Lion Global Investors' (LGI) core competency is in managing Asian equities and fixed income on behalf of institutional and retail investors worldwide. At end of 31 December 2014, LGI is managing S$34 billion (US$25.7billion) on behalf of their clients globally. LGI s investment capabilities, strong parentage and in-depth knowledge of Asian markets have contributed to their significant presence in Asia for over 29 years. This and being headquartered in Singapore - widely recognised as Asia s leading financial hub make LGI the preferred investment partner in Asia for international investors. Source: Wellington Management Singapore Private Limited ( Wellington ) Wellington Management is a fully-integrated global organization comprised of the parent entity, Wellington Management Company LLP and its affiliates, including Wellington Management Singapore Pte Ltd, its Singaporebased affiliate. With US$914 billion in assets under management, Wellington Management serves as an investment advisor to more than 2,100 clients based in more than 50 countries, as of 31 December Wellington s singular focus is investments from global equities and fixed income to currencies and commodities. They like to describe themselves as a community of teams that create solutions designed to respond to specific client needs. Their most distinctive strength is their proprietary, independent research, which is shared across all areas of the organization and used only for managing clients' portfolios. Tracing its roots to the founding of Wellington Fund in 1928, the firm is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Chicago, Illinois; Radnor, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California; Frankfurt; Beijing; Hong Kong; London; Singapore; Sydney; Tokyo, Luxembourg and Zurich. Source: Wellington Management Singapore Pte Ltd Investors should note that the past performance of the Managers is not necessarily indicative of the future performance of the Managers. The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited (Reg. No G) 2/6

3 SOFT DOLLAR COMMISSIONS OR ARRANGEMENTS The Manager receives and enters into soft dollar commissions or arrangements used to support investment decision making and these include research and advisory services, economic and political analyses, portfolio analyses, data and quotation services and computer hardware and software. The Manager only accepts or enters into soft dollar commissions or arrangements if such soft dollar commissions or arrangements shall, in the opinion of the Manager, reasonably assist them in the management of the ILP Sub-Fund, and further shall ensure at all times that such transactions are executed on the best available terms taking into account the relevant market at the time for transactions of the kind and size concerned and that no unnecessary trades are entered into in order to qualify for such soft-dollar commissions or arrangements. Wellington Management Singapore Private Limited Wellington Management requests broker/dealers to accrue cash balances for payment of qualified third-party research services through Client Commission Arrangements (CCAs). These balances are generally not systematically linked to commissions generated by trades we place on behalf of our clients, but rather are managed in the aggregate across commissions generated by all clients. If a broker/dealer who pays for third-party research is used to execute CCA eligible trades in a client account, then we assign to each client account a pro rata share of the third-party research payment made by that broker/dealer. The account s pro rata share for each broker is based on the percentage of aggregate firmwide commissions with each firm that are used for third-party research payment. Broker/dealers may implement this accrual process using various methods and assumptions that are not transparent to Wellington Management. Transactions are placed with broker/dealers who, in the judgment of Trading, can provide best available price and most favorable execution at a commission rate negotiated based on the execution requirements of the trade. The trader considers the full range of brokerage services applicable to a particular transaction when making this judgment. In instances where the trader believes that more than one broker/dealer can offer the execution services needed to seek best execution for a particular order, the trader may consider the research services provided by a broker/dealer or clientdirected (commission recapture) instructions as a deciding factor in the broker/dealer selection process. This unconstrained trading environment is an important benefit and advantage of our approach to client commission management. Wellington Management investment professionals can and do use research produced outside of our firm in their decision making process (Research Services). These Research Services are of high intellectual content and include written research material as well as access to industry experts and leaders in a variety of fields. Roughly 6% of Wellington Management's client commissions is used for the recognition of third-party Research Services paid via Client Commission Arrangements or "soft dollars". All Research Services obtained through our CCAs qualify as research or execution under the provisions of Section 28(e) of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the requirements of the FCA Rules and Guidance as set forth in Policy Statement 05/9 on bundled brokerage and soft commission arrangements. Wellington Management uses our primary trading relationships to establish CCAs. Our Policy and Procedures on Order Execution discusses our practices with respect to the receipt of research from brokers with whom Wellington Management places trades. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The Manager is of the view they are not in a position of conflict in managing their other funds and the ILP Sub-Fund as each of the funds and the ILP Sub-Fund has its own investment universe, investment objectives and investment restrictions, separate and distinct from each of the other funds. In the event the various funds place orders for the same securities as the ILP Sub-Fund, the Manager shall endeavour as far as possible to allocate such securities among the funds in a fair manner based on a pro-rata basis. Associates of the Trustee may be engaged to provide financial, banking or brokerage services to the ILP Sub-Fund or buy, hold and deal in any investments, enter into contracts or other arrangements with the Trustee and make profits from these activities. Such services, where provided, and such activities, where entered into, will be on an arm s length basis. The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited (Reg. No G) 3/6

4 Wellington Management Singapore Private Limited Wellington Management does not engage in retail brokerage, lending, securities underwriting, or proprietary trading and is not affiliated with any firms that engage in these businesses. In addition, the firm s business model, ownership structure, and culture seek to align the interests of clients with those of the firm. Together, these structural elements help the firm avoid some of the most typical conflicts of interest in the investment management business, such as: conflicts relating to an ownership relationship with another financial entity conflicts involving trading for the profit of the firm versus the client conflicts caused by business interest in a distribution entity conflicts stemming from the use or sale of research to support other forms of business Still, the nature of the investment management business and our firm s diversification by client type and asset class makes it virtually impossible for any firm to be immune from conflicts of interest altogether. Wellington has extensive policies and procedures for managing conflicts of interest that are described in Our Business and Practices policy document. RISKS General Risks Investors should consider and satisfy themselves as to the risks of investing in an ILP Sub-Fund. Generally, some of the risk factors that should be considered by the investors are market, derivatives, liquidity, political, repatriation, regulatory, counterparty, currency, and emerging market risks. An investment in an ILP Sub-Fund is meant to produce returns over the long-term. Investors should not expect to obtain short-term gains from such investment. Investors should note that the value of units, and the income accruing to the units, may fall or rise and that investors may not get back their original investment. Specific Risks (a) Market Risks The usual risks of investing and participating in listed and unlisted securities apply. Prices of securities may go up or down in response to changes in economic conditions, interest rates, and the market's perception of securities. These may cause the price of units in the ILP Sub-Fund to go up or down as the price of units in the ILP Sub-Fund is based on the current market value of the investments of the ILP Sub-Fund. There are usual risks of investing in bonds and other fixed income securities. Bond prices may go up or down in response to interest rates with increases in interest rates leading to falling bond prices. The market prices of bonds and other fixed income securities are also affected by credit risks, such as risk of default by issuers and liquidity risk. (b) Derivatives Risks An ILP Sub-Fund may from time to time invest in derivatives, which are financial contracts whose value depend on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate or index. Such assets, rates and indices may include bonds, shares, interest rates, currency exchange rates, bond indices and stock indices. While the judicious use of derivatives by professional investment managers can be beneficial, derivatives involve risks different from, and, in some cases, greater than, the risks presented by more traditional securities investments. Some of the risks associated with derivatives are market risk, management risk, credit risk, liquidity risk and leverage risk. The Sub Manager does not intend to use derivatives transactions for speculation or leverage but may use them for efficient portfolio management and risk management. Such investments will be made subject to a restriction that the total value of investments which are futures, options, forwards, swaps, collars, floors and other derivatives (excluding derivatives entered into for hedging purposes) shall not exceed 15% of the total value of each fund. The Sub Manager will attempt to minimize the risks through careful selection of reputable counterparties and constant monitoring of the derivatives positions. (c) Political Risks The political situation in the countries may have an effect on the value of the securities of companies in whose securities an ILP Sub-Fund has invested, which may in turn impact on the value of the units in the ILP Sub-Fund. The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited (Reg. No G) 4/6

5 (d) Currency Risks As the investments of an ILP Sub-Fund may be denominated in foreign currencies, fluctuations of the exchange rates of foreign currencies against the base currency of an ILP Sub-Fund may affect the value of the units in the ILP Sub-Fund. The Sub Manager may from time to time employ currency hedging techniques to manage the impact of the exchange rate fluctuations on an ILP Sub-Fund and/or for the purpose of efficient portfolio management. (e) Risks associated with investments in countries outside Singapore, particularly in emerging markets: (i) Political Risks Countries outside Singapore, especially those with emerging markets, may be subject to higher than usual risks of political changes, government regulations, social instability or diplomatic developments (including war) which could adversely affect the economies of the relevant countries and thus the value of investments in those countries. There is also the risk that nationalization or other similar action could lead to confiscation of assets under which shareholders in those companies would get little or no compensation. The emerging economies may be heavily dependent on international trade and accordingly, may be adversely affected by trade barriers, or other protectionist measures and international economic developments generally. (ii) Liquidity Risks Trading volume on stock exchanges in emerging markets can be substantially less than on the stock exchanges of the major markets, so that acquisition and disposal of holdings may be time consuming and/or may need to be conducted at unfavorable prices. (iii) Repatriation Risks Investments in emerging markets could be adversely affected by delays in, or refusal to grant, relevant approvals for the repatriation of funds or by any official intervention affecting the process of settlement of transactions. Consents granted prior to investment being made in any particular country may be varied or revoked, and new restrictions may be imposed. (iv) Regulatory Risks An ILP Sub-Fund's investments in emerging economies are also subject to regulatory risks, for example, the introduction of new laws, the imposition of exchange controls, the adoption of restrictive provisions by individual companies or where a limit on the holding of the ILP Sub-Fund in a particular company, sector or country by non residents (individually or collectively) has been reached. (f) Technology related risks Focused investments into a specific sector as technology related companies are likely to be affected by factors associated with technology industries that may include regulatory restrictions, obsolescence due to technological advancements, development failure and unforeseen changes and costs to effective application of technology. (g) Concentration risks Investments into companies of almost similar businesses which may likely subject the ILP Sub-Fund to high risk when market and economic conditions are not favourable to the specific industry. The ILP Sub-Fund is also subject to the usual counterparty risks, such that the ability of the ILP Sub-Fund to make payments may depend upon the due performance by the other parties, namely the Manager and/or the Custodian (as the case may be). In the event of insolvency of the Manager, the investments are held by the Trustee on behalf of investors and are not affected by the Manager s insolvency. In the event of insolvency of the Custodian, as the ILP Sub-Fund s non-cash investments are maintained and held separately from those of the Custodian s assets, non-cash investments should normally not be affected by the Custodian s insolvency. In relation to cash investments, there could be a risk that the ILP Sub-Fund s investments (insofar as it is in the form of cash) may be affected in the event of the Custodian s insolvency. The above should not be considered to be an exhaustive list of the risks which potential investors should consider before investing into the particular ILP Sub-Fund. Potential investors should be aware that an investment in the particular ILP Sub-Fund may be exposed to other risks of an exceptional nature from time to time. The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited (Reg. No G) 5/6

6 EXPENSE RATIO Expense ratio is calculated in accordance with the Investment Management Association (IMAS) of Singapore s guidelines on the disclosure of expense ratios. The expense ratio for the period 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014 is 1.68%. The following expenses (where applicable) as set out in the IMAS Guidelines (as may be updated from time to time) are excluded from the calculation of the expense ratio: (a) brokerage and other transaction costs associated with the purchase and sales of investments (such as registrar charges and remittance fees); (b) interest expenses; (c) performance fee; (d) foreign exchange gains and losses of the ILP Sub-Fund, whether realised or unrealised; (e) front-end loads, back-end loads and other costs arising on the purchase or sale of a foreign exchange unit trust or mutual fund; (f) tax deducted at source or arising from income received, including withholding tax; and (g) dividends and other distributions paid to investors. TURNOVER RATIO Turnover ratio means a ratio calculated based on the lesser of purchases or sales expressed as a percentage of over 'average net asset value'. Where 'average net asset value' means the net asset value for each day averaged over, as far as possible, the same period used for calculating the expense ratio. The turnover ratio for the period 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014 is %. The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited (Reg. No G) 6/6