Geopolitical Analyst, Steno Research, Steno Research

Mikkel Rosenvold

Geopolitical Analyst, Steno Research

Macro and Geopolitical Research House

Steno Research

Steno Research is a new macro and geopolitical research house. We are based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, but have an international team and a strong network of sources and partners around the world. The team is lead by Andreas Steno, previous global head of strategy at Nordea Bank, and Mikkel Rosenvold, former chief consultant in the Danish Ministry of Finance.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Welcome to this week’s edition of the Great Game.</li>
<li>This week, all eyes are on Asia with a series of high-level summits taking place across the continent.</li>
<li>Both U.S. President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris will be flying out to attend in person, but what’s at stake and what are they trying to accomplish?</li>
</ul>


Welcome to this week’s edition of the Great Game.
This week, all eyes are on Asia with a series of high-level summits taking place across the continent.
Both U.S. President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris will be flying out to attend in person, but what’s at stake and what are they trying to accomplish?


Marketing Director, Asia Frontier Capital

Asia Frontier Capital

Marketing Director

Investing in high growth Asian frontier economies.

Asia Frontier Capital Ltd. is a pioneering fund management company based in Hong Kong that specializes in investing in high growth Asian frontier economies by managing the AFC Asia Frontier Fund , AFC Iraq Fund and the AFC Vietnam Fund.

The AFC Asia Frontier Fund invests in public equities of Asian frontier countries that are seeing increasing consumption due to favorable demographic trends, rising incomes and high GDP growth. The fund invests in listed equities of companies that have their principal business activities in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The AFC Asia Frontier Fund is positioned to take advantage of the continuing economic shifts in these countries and offers high returns combined with significant diversification opportunities. This fund is directed by the founder and CEO of Asia Frontier Capital, Thomas Hugger, who has been investing in frontier markets across Asia and Africa for more than 20 years.

The AFC Iraq Fund was launched on the 26th June 2015 and aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation for investors by capturing value and growth potential in the post conflict high-growth & resource rich Iraq market. The fund emphasises long term investment horizon to truly capture the opportunity in Iraq. The fund's investable universe consists of locally listed companies that have their principal business activities in Iraq as well as foreign listed companies that have the majority of the business in Iraq as a whole including the prosperous Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). The AFC Iraq Fund offers access to investments in post conflict recovery potential of Iraq, including the KRI, and/or stability in its territory. The AFC Iraq Fund is managed by Asia Frontier Capital (Iraq) Limited, Cayman Islands under the executive leadership team of Thomas Hugger (CEO & Fund Manager) and Ahmed Tabaqchali (CIO) who have more than 47 years of investment experience as well as an extensive background covering global, emerging, frontier and MENA markets.

The AFC Vietnam Fund invests exclusively in listed Vietnamese equities to capture value in growth companies with a focus on the small to medium size companies. This market segment offers a unique investment opportunity as the valuation gap between large- and small-cap stocks in Vietnam is presently much wider than in comparable neighboring markets and the valuations are significantly depressed versus their regional peers. The fund adopts a fundamental-quantitative approach and employs an in-house earnings model to identify attractive companies where we see high growth opportunities. In conjunction with targeting the maximum upside potential the portfolio has been structured to mitigate corporate government and liquidity risks. The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of 70-90 attractively valued companies to carefully control concentration risk.  This approach allows the fund to sell, or buy, positions without having a significant market impact. The fund is directed under the executive leadership of Thomas Hugger and Andreas Vogelsanger who have more than 50 years combined experience managing investments in frontier markets, Asia and around the world.

For more information about the fund, management team and investment strategy please contact us at info@asiafrontiercapital.com.

<ul><li>Asian frontier markets had another solid month led by gains in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.</li><li>The ongoing upward re-rating in Asian frontier markets does not surprise us as we have been communicating since the end of 2022 that this would happen as inflation and interest rates are peaking and our universe will rally strongly given that our markets entered 2023 at significantly discounted valuations.</li><li>Year-to-date, many Asian frontier markets have significantly outperformed the region. </li></ul>

Asian frontier markets had another solid month led by gains in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.The ongoing upward re-rating in Asian frontier markets does not surprise us as we have been communicating since the end of 2022 that this would happen as inflation and interest rates are peaking and our universe will rally strongly given that our markets entered 2023 at significantly discounted valuations.Year-to-date, many Asian frontier markets have significantly outperformed the region. 

The Re-Rating in Asian Frontier Markets Has Begun - July 2023 Update

<ul><li>In May the stock market exhibited a subdued demeanor, characterized by predominantly sideways movement and limited trading volume.</li><li>Nevertheless, the VN-index managed to increase by+2.48%, and the AFC Vietnam Fund recorded growth of +3.2% to an NAV of USD 3,118, according to internal estimates.</li><li>Despite a relatively quiet stock market environment in May, the index managed to gain 26.05 points and closed at 1,075.17, representing an increase of 2.48% and the AFC Vietnam Fund recorded another positive month, slightly outperforming the index with a 3.2% gain.</li></ul>

In May the stock market exhibited a subdued demeanor, characterized by predominantly sideways movement and limited trading volume.Nevertheless, the VN-index managed to increase by+2.48%, and the AFC Vietnam Fund recorded growth of +3.2% to an NAV of USD 3,118, according to internal estimates.Despite a relatively quiet stock market environment in May, the index managed to gain 26.05 points and closed at 1,075.17, representing an increase of 2.48% and the AFC Vietnam Fund recorded another positive month, slightly outperforming the index with a 3.2% gain.

<ul><li>The year began on a strong positive note for global equity markets and most AFC funds also had a positive return at the start of the year.</li><li>Investor sentiment continues to improve as confidence grows that we are at the peak of global inflation and interest rate hikes.</li><li>This was also evident in the less aggressive 25 basis point increase in interest rates by the U.S. Fed on 1st February 2023, as well as less hawkish messaging from the U.S. Fed in the past few weeks.</li></ul>

The year began on a strong positive note for global equity markets and most AFC funds also had a positive return at the start of the year.Investor sentiment continues to improve as confidence grows that we are at the peak of global inflation and interest rate hikes.This was also evident in the less aggressive 25 basis point increase in interest rates by the U.S. Fed on 1st February 2023, as well as less hawkish messaging from the U.S. Fed in the past few weeks.

Asian Frontier Markets Start the Year Strong - Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) - January 2023 Update

<ul>
<li>2023 had a flamboyant start with European and US stock markets in positive territory.</li>
<li>Also, the VN-Index gained an impressive 10.3% in the first month of the year, mainly due to the strong performance of bank stocks.</li>
<li>The AFC Vietnam Fund unfortunately doesn’t have much exposure to banks and hence the NAV rose by only +4.1% to USD 3,004 in January, according to internal estimates. </li>
</ul>


2023 had a flamboyant start with European and US stock markets in positive territory.
Also, the VN-Index gained an impressive 10.3% in the first month of the year, mainly due to the strong performance of bank stocks.
The AFC Vietnam Fund unfortunately doesn’t have much exposure to banks and hence the NAV rose by only +4.1% to USD 3,004 in January, according to internal estimates. 


Vietnam

The Vietnam Stock Index or VN-Index is a capitalization-weighted index of all the companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. The index was created with a base index value of 100 as of July 28, 2000. Prior to March 1, 2002, the market only traded on alternate days.

Vietnam VNIndex (VNINDEX INDEX)

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Welcome to this week’s edition of the Great Game. This week, all eyes are on Asia with a series of high-level summits taking place across the...

Steno Research

The Re-Rating in Asian Frontier Markets Has Begun - July 2023 Update

The ongoing upward re-rating in Asian frontier markets does not surprise us as we have been communicating since the end of 2022 that this would...

Asia Frontier Capital

AFC Vietnam Fund May 2023 Report

In May the stock market exhibited a subdued demeanor, characterized by predominantly sideways movement and limited trading volume. Nevertheless,...

Asia Frontier Capital

Asian Frontier Markets Start the Year Strong - Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) - January 2023 Update

The year began on a strong positive note for global equity markets and most AFC funds also had a positive return at the start of the year.

Asia Frontier Capital

AFC Vietnam Fund January 2023 Report

The AFC Vietnam Fund unfortunately doesn’t have much exposure to banks and hence the NAV rose by only +4.1% to USD 3,004 in January, according to...

Asia Frontier Capital