Co-led by Yu Zhang and CIO Robert Horrocks, the Matthews Asia ex Japan Dividend Fund will invest in companies that provide stable dividend income, as well as those positioned to grow future dividends.
The same investment team also manages the firm’s flagship Asia Dividend strategy, which originally launched in 2006 as a US mutual fund.
The fund will aim to benefit from what the managers see as both a large dividend pool in Asia as well as its impressive dividend growth rate.
Zhang, the lead manager, said: “Compared to many Asian equity income funds that predominantly focus on high-yielding stocks, our approach is to invest in companies that offer both attractive current yields as well as companies that offer the potential for future dividend growth.”
The size of dividends paid by companies in Asia ex Japan has expanded notably in recent years, according to Matthews Asia, totaling around $220bn (£148bn).
In addition, dividend growth in Asia ex Japan continues to outpace growth rates in developed markets at close to 12.2% per year.
