EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (March 16 2025)

Aberdeen brings back vowels, red flags for investing in emerging markets, Taiwan trip report, SA budget, why consider frontier markets debt, Europe 2025 stocks, fund updates & annual reports, etc.

A quick interesting fund manager note: Aberdeen was widely derided for dropping the vowels from its name under a previous CEO to become Abrdn; but vowels are now back (at least with the logo name on their website) under a new CEO who is trying to turn things around:

📰 UK asset manager Abrdn renames itself Aberdeen (FT) $ 🗃️

• Company says move will end ‘distractions’ after widely ridiculed rebranding in 2021

• Rae Maile, an analyst at Panmure Liberum, wrote to clients: “The market has not believed in aberdeen (yes, the ee’s are back) either in the ability to get costs out or to have a strategy for growth. That view is challenged today.”

(Now Aberdeen just needs to put all their research scattered about on their various websites placed in one location…)

If only companies could STOP making their logos ugly and all looking alike; but as this interesting Twitter thread explains, there are scientific reasons why marketers are doing that (Hint: The “digital revolution…”):

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As of mid-March, there are plenty of new updates and some annual reports (our continuously updated post containing all funds is here) plus some new research available:

• 🔬🌐 There are good points in this Janus Henderson Investors piece: Why choose a tech fund over individual stock picking? - The Global Technology Leaders Team discusses why a fund approach to investing in tech stocks benefits from active management, guided by their experience of navigating previous waves.

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New Asia Fund Documents & Research

• Asia Frontier Capital has the following updates:

  • 🗄️🌏 AFC Asia Frontier Fund’s February newsletter (detailed economic and portfolio - Another Stable Month in Volatile Global Markets - February 2025 Update) noted another stable month for the fund despite a volatile month for the US markets. Stocks discussed or mentioned:

    • 🇬🇪 🇺🇿 Tbc Bank Group Plc (LON: TBCG / OTCMKTS: TBCCF) - The largest banking group in Georgia.

    • 🇬🇪 🇦🇲 Lion Finance Group previously Bank Of Georgia Group Plc (LON: BGEO / FRA: GEB / OTCMKTS: BDGSF) - Banking + financial in Georgian & Armenian markets through universal banks.

    • 🇰🇿 KASPI (NASDAQ: KSPI / LON: 80TE / FRA: KKS) - Payments Platform, Marketplace Platform & Fintech Platform.

    • 🇱🇰 Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (CSE: COMB / COMBt) or ComBank - Premier private sector commercial bank. SME lender.

    • 🇱🇰 Hatton National Bank (CSE: HNB / HNBt) - Foremost private commercial bank to institute housing loans.

    • Unnamed performers/transactions (that can be guessed) mentioned:

      • 📈🇻🇳 IT company in Vietnam

      • 📈🇵🇰 Two cement producer in Pakistan

      • 📈🇲🇳 Two Mongolian junior gold miner

      • 📈🇬🇪 Two Georgian banks

      • 🏧🇧🇩 Bangladeshi cement producer

      • 🏧🇧🇩 Bangladeshi industrial gas producer

  • 🗄️🇻🇳 AFC Vietnam Fund’s February newsletter discussed market developments, how Trump has said Value-Added Taxes (VAT) will be considered the same as tariffs, the strong USD, 2024 Q4 financial reports and 2025 growth targets. Stocks discussed or mentioned (e.g. as the largest positions):

    • 🇻🇳 Lam Dong Mineral and Building Material JSC (HOSE: LBM) - Precasted concrete, tuynel brick, construction stone, refractory material, kaolin & Bentonite

    • 🇻🇳 Agriculture Bank Insurance JSC (HNX: ABI) - Insurance.

    • 🇻🇳 Thien Long Group Corp (HOSE: TLG) - Stationery maker.

    • 🇻🇳 Dong Hai JSC of Ben Tre (HOSE: DHC) - Manufactures, sells & trades in pulp, kraft paper, paper board & carton packaging products.

    • 🇻🇳 Hang Xanh Motors Service JSC (HOSE: HAX) - Mercedes car dealer.

    • 🇻🇳 Coteccons Construction JSC (HOSE: CTD) - Equipment installation, interior decoration & office leasing related activities.

    • 🇻🇳 Hoa Phat Group (HOSE: HPG) - Trading & production of Furniture, Steel Pipe, Steel, Refrigeration, Real Estate & Agriculture.

    • 🇻🇳 Nam Kim Steel JSC (HOSE: NKG) - Coated steel manufacturer.

    • 🇻🇳 Hoa Sen Group (HOSE: HSG) - Manufacturing, trading & exporting steel sheet.

    • 🇻🇳 Gia Đại (GDA) [Ton Dong A Corp (HNX: GDA)] - Cold rolled coil, galvanized, pre-painted galvanized, steel pipe, galvalume, pre-painted galvalume for construction, infrastructure & home appliances.

  • 🗄️🇮🇶 AFC Iraq Fund’s February newsletter (economic and portfolio) discussed why the Iraqi market is in a multi-month uptrend.

  • 🗄️🇺🇿 AFC Uzbekistan Fund’s February newsletter noted how the National Investment Fund of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Franklin Templeton Asset Management have announced the signing of an investment agreement on asset management for the Uzbek state’s holdings in 18 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in order to increase their investment attractiveness.