EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (June 8, 2025)
UBS Global Family Office Report 2025, Greater China ETF investor survey, China’s Robotaxi market, Toyota's corp governance improvements, Korea’s political environment, LSEG, Telekom Malaysia, etc.
As mentioned last Monday, Seeking Alpha ended their Global Investing newsletter while The Asset has reported how Asia’s wealthy families pivot homeward amid global uncertainty 🗃️ according to the latest UBS Global Family Office Report 2025 e.g.:
On the other hand, the report noted (and probably why US-investor centric Seeking Alpha stopped their Global Investing newsletter):
From a geographic perspective, family offices have an average of almost four fifths of their assets in North America and Western Europe. US family offices have a stronger home bias than ever and have virtually withdrawn from international markets over the past five years.
Otherwise:
Emerging markets taking a back seat
After a prolonged period of disappointing returns, with economic growth typically not translating into equity market returns, US and European family offices appear to be more wary of emerging markets. Family offices allocated just 4% to emerging market equities in 2024 and 3% to emerging market bonds. While these global average allocations are the same as 2023, they mask much lower allocations from US and European family offices than from those in regions such as AsiaPacific, Latin America and the Middle East.
From a selection of emerging markets offered in the survey, family offices are most likely to increase their exposure in their investment portfolios to India and Mainland China over the next 12 months. More than a quarter (28%) of family offices are planning to increase their exposure to India over the next 12 months while almost a fifth (18%) are planning to increase exposure to Mainland China. Middle Eastern family offices were the most likely to increase exposure to India, while North Asians were for Mainland China.
As of the first week of June, a few more April and May fund updates have become available (our continuously updated post containing all funds is here and March research has been removed) plus additional research starting with some non-emerging market pieces:
🔬🇮🇹 Smaller companies: on the road – Milan - We recently visited Milan to meet some of the standout Italian smaller companies – from luxury goods to finance. Here’s what caught our eye.
🇮🇹 Banca Generali SpA (BIT: BGN / FRA: B7A / OTCMKTS: BGNMF) - Private banking & wealth management for high-net-worth individuals. 🇼
🇮🇹 Mediobanca Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA (BIT: MB / FRA: ME9 / OTCMKTS: MDIBY) - Wealth Management, Corporate & Investment Banking, Consumer Finance & Insurance. 🇼
🇮🇹 Azimut Holding SpA (BIT: AZM / OTCMKTS: AZIHF) - Asset management, wealth management, investment banking & fintech. 🇼
🇮🇹 Reply SpA (BIT: REY / FRA: REJA / OTCMKTS: RPYTF) - IT consulting, system integration & digital services. 🇼
🇮🇹 Ermenegildo Zegna NV (NYSE: ZGN) - Luxury fashion house. 🇼
🇮🇹 Brunello Cucinelli SpA (BIT: BC / FRA: 8BU / OTCMKTS: BCUCF) - Luxury fashion brand. Menswear, women's wear & accessories. 🇼
🔬🌐 Euro-Denominated Assets Benefitting from the Rotation out of Dollar Assets (Candriam) - Euro-denominated assets have benefitted from the rotation out of dollar assets, but this is clearly a very relative preference. The outlook for the Eurozone economy is undoubtedly cloudy and indeed increasingly so, being as it is at the centre of global trade. This leads us to still hold a constructive view on Eurozone duration and careful positioning on credit risk.
🔬🇪🇺 Old World, new money: Are European equities making a comeback? (Robeco) - Could increasing exposure to European equities be beneficial for today’s investor? In a new paper, we examine the current landscape of European equities markets, introduce Robeco’s 3D ETF, and make the case for a European equities allocation.
New Asia Fund Documents & Research
🗄️🌏 abrdn Asia-Pacific Income Fund, Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: FAX)’s quarterly commentary (market review and outlook) is dated from the Quarter ended April 30, 2025. It covers bonds, currencies, credit, and gives an outlook.
🗄️🌏 abrdn Global Income Fund, Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: FCO)’s quarterly commentary (market review and outlook) is dated from the Quarter ended April 30, 2025. It covers bonds, currencies, and gives an outlook.
🔬🚩 Emerging markets income equity: why Telekom Malaysia stands out from the crowd (Aberdeen Investments) - Investors are ready to fall back in love with the telecommunications sector.
🇲🇾🏛️ Telekom Malaysia Bhd (KLSE: TM / OTCMKTS: MYTEF) - Broadband services, data, fixed line, pay television & network services. 🇼