East Capital, a specialist in emerging and frontier markets, is pleased to announce its subsidiary, East Capital Asia Ltd., has been granted both an asset management license (type 9) and a securities advice license (type 4) from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The firm opened an office in Hong Kong in 2007 and has invested in Asia since 2010.

Over the past 10 years, East Capital has been marketing and distributing its range of public equity funds, in particular its flagship funds, the East Capital Russian Fund (launched in 1998) and the East Capital Eastern European Fund (launched in 2002), to investors based in Asia Pacific.

East Capital has significantly expanded its presence in the region in the last five years. In 2010 the firm established a research capability into China’s equity markets in Shanghai and in 2013 was the first Nordic asset manager to get a QFII license. To date, East Capital has invested more than USD 170m in the China A-shares market.

In March this year, East Capital was one of the first asset managers to receive approval from Luxembourg’s financial services regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Sector Financier (CSSF), for its UCITS compliant daily traded funds to invest in A-shares through the Hong Kong – Shanghai Stock Connect Programme.

The Hong Kong-based equity team is led by Karine Hirn, Partner, East Capital, who works with two experienced investment professionals, Adrian Pop and Dmitriy Vlasov, together with a team of analysts.

East Capital’s Asia fund range includes a daily-traded A-shares fund, the East Capital (Lux) China Fund and the East Capital (Lux) Emerging Asia Fund. Last year the firm launched the East Capital (Lux) Frontier Markets Fund, part of which invests in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Vietnam.

“An asset management license in Hong Kong is a significant development for East

Capital, as it enables us to enhance our investment processes,” said Ms Hirn. “Outside of Europe, our Hong Kong investment hub is our second home and we have ambitious plans for further growth in the region as we see increasing interest for our Asian products from our global investor base.”

East Capital’s investment strategy emphasises thorough knowledge of the markets, fundamental analysis and frequent company visits by the investment team.

“We have well-defined investment criteria where we select companies that exhibit solid growth figures, good corporate governance standards, low leverage and high dividend yield. This is backed up by spending a lot of time visiting companies to identify good investments, and monitor holdings,” Ms Hirn added.