The latest in funds and investments across Asia-Pacific.

Premia Partners
Premia Partners, a Hong Kong-based investment firm concentrating on index-based money management, has launched exchange traded funds designed to give varied exposure to the Asian market.

The two Hong Kong-listed ETFs both have a total expense ratio of 0.50 per cent and are physically replicated. They are called the Premia Asia Innovative Technology ETF and Premia Dow Jones Emerging ASEAN Titans 100 ETF. 

The first of the funds tracks the Premia FactSet Asia Innovative Technology Index, which aims to capture 50 leading Asia-based companies engaged in emerging and disruptive solutions across technology-enabled sectors of digital transformation, healthcare & life sciences, and robotics & automation. The second tracks the Dow Jones Emerging ASEAN Titans 100 Index, which aims to capture 100 leading companies from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, based on float-adjusted market capitalization, revenue, and net income characteristics.

“Investors are keen to invest in the secular trends that drive such emerging growth economies, as well as the technology-enabled growth sectors in Asia, where demographics and population size often power growth of innovative technology applications to a different level by order of magnitude," Rebecca Chua, managing partner of Premia Partners, said.

"Market participants have demonstrated a growing interest in the ASEAN region due to the favourable demographics and consumer-driven growth," Michael Orzano, Senior Director, Global Equity Indices, S&P Dow Jones Indices, said.

Premia Partners is an investment firm founded in Hong Kong in 2016.

Manulife
Manulife Asset Management and Trust Corp, part of Manulife Philippines, is widening the range of portfolio investment products to tap into Asia-Pacific region and reduce domestic asset biases such as in the Philippines, the firm has said, according to media reports. 

“When we look at the industry, most of the investments offered are largely Philippine-centric. So, given our global access to international network of resources, we made use of these advantages to develop new products that will give new value to investors,” president and CEO Aira Gaspar reportedly said late last week in a press briefing in Makati City.

The company has launched its Asia-Pacific Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Fund of Funds and Asia Best Select Equity Fund under its unit investment trust fund portfolio. Filipino investors can hold securities in companies and REITs listed in stock markets such as those of Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

Asia Best Select Equity and Asia Pacific REIT are available in US dollar and Philippine peso denominations. Asia Best Select is available at a minimum investment of $100 or P5,000 and the REIT Fund of Funds sells for an initial investment of $1,000 or P50,000, a report by GMA News.

The organisations are part of Canada-headquartered Manulife, the financial services group.