The Mirae Asset Islamic Asia Sector Leader Equity fund is the group’s first sharia-compliant product.
It will be managed by Rahul Chadha, co-chief investment officer of Mirae Asset Global Investment in Hong Kong. Chadha also manages the Mirae Asia Sector Leader Equity fund.
The fund, which is a sub-fund of the Mirae Asset Global Discovery Fund Sicav, a Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits, seeks to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in sharia-compliant companies in the Asia ex Japan region.
Ongoing monitoring
It will be benchmarked against the MSCI Asia ex Japan Islamic Index and run using the same process as the Asia Sector Leader Equity fund, which aims to identify those companies that are leaders or future leaders of their respective sectors or industry groups.
Amanie Advisors and IdealRatings will act as the sharia supervisory board and Sharia stock-screening provider for the fund, providing ongoing sharia-compliance monitoring services.
Product diversification
The launch is part of a wider strategy to diversify the group’s product range to European investors. It also plans to launch a macro long/short hedge fund strategy.
Jad Shams, head of Mena of Mirae Asset Global Investments (UK): “Middle Eastern investors are increasingly looking to diversify their assets, both in terms of asset class and region. Our consumer-focused approach in stock selection is proving popular amongst investors who understand our bottom-up approach.”