The trust said it had appointed two new managers in Nomura’s place after a review and formal search was set in place, but that Aberdeen would maintain its position.
Matthews International Capital Management and MW GaveKal Asia were selected as the new managers and given approximately 35% and 10% of the trust respectively.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen will continue to manage the balance of the portfolio (approximately 55%) using its fundamental investment style looking for good quality companies on low valuations.
Witan Pacific said the decision from the board reflects its objective to seek enhanced returns to shareholders by accessing a wider range of opportunities across the region.
It added that Matthews was a leading Asian investment specialist based in San Francisco, currently managing $17.8bn in Asia Pacific equities and bonds. The firm will manage its portion of the trust with its Asia dividend strategy.
Varied strengths
MW GaveKal is a Hong Kong-based manager and currently runs country specific and Asia Pacific regional portfolios with AUM in excess of $1bn.
"Using these three distinctive managers creates a unique investment blend for the trust’s portfolio," Witan Pacific said, "Their unconstrained approaches create portfolios which are independent of individual companies’ and markets’ weighting in the regional indices and each manager has a distinctive approach."
Gillian Nott, chairman of the Witan Pacific Investment Trust, added: "Aberdeen, whose quality stock picking approach has already been very successful for the Trust, will be joined by Matthews, who will focus on choosing companies which offer attractive earnings growth and dividend paying characteristics, and MW GaveKal who combine stock selection with an active approach to asset allocation between bonds, cash and equities.
"The appointment of Matthews, with its focus on dividend growth, is expected to increase the overall portfolio yield and with it the scope to support the Trust’s dividend growth policy. The inclusion of MW GaveKal provides the potential to reduce the absolute volatility of the trust, particularly in down markets."
