Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Steven Holden is the CEO and Founder of Copley Fund Research, an independent provider of research on equity fund positioning and performance.  Set up in 2014, Copley focuses on global, global emerging market, US, Asia Ex-Japan and China active equity funds, covering over $4tr in assets across 1300 active managers.  The company provides data and analysis on market trends, manager exposures and active fund performance to an audience of investment managers, pension funds and fund selectors worldwide.  Mr Holden’s 14-year investment banking career started in 2000, where he worked for Morgan Stanley as an equity derivative trader focused on emerging markets in London.  Following this, he spent 4 years at Citibank in London and Hong Kong as an Executive Director in derivative sales, focused again on emerging markets.

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

China Materials / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Despite playing such a minor role in China investment portfolios, Materials allocations have been on the rise.  Current holding weights represent an 8-year high and the percentage of funds invested is at the top of the 6 year range.  Activity over the last 6-months shows some of the pure metal plays gaining tracking with China investors.  A further 11.2% of funds added Steel exposure over the period and 10.3% Aluminum.  In contrast, Construction Materials suffered outflows and a scaling back of exposure from active managers.We would highlight stocks such as <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/beijing-oriental-yuhong-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3060:1" rel="noopener">Beijing Oriental Yuhong A (002271 CH) </a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wanhua-chemical-group-co-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5049:1" rel="noopener">Wanhua Chemical Group Co A (600309 CH)</a> , <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shandong-sinocera-functional-material-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6865:1" rel="noopener">Shandong Sinocera Functional Material (300285 CH)</a> , <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-molybdenum-co-ltd-d9c46a67-e31f-431f-9f5f-02222265d701" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8585:1" rel="noopener">China Molybdenum Co Ltd H (3993 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baoshan-iron-steel-co-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3891:1" rel="noopener">Baoshan Iron &amp; Steel Co A (600019 CH)</a> as seeing investment levels rise from a very low base, having previously being off the radar for the majority of active China investors.Relative to 5-year history, allocations are now looking overstretched, but relative to 10 year history, allocations still have some way to go, and absolute weights are still tiny compared to the large allocations awarded to Consumer and Communication Services stocks.  In short, are the recent moves part of a short-term shift in momentum, or the early part of a longer-term structural shift?Taken from our active China fund universe, consisting of 116 funds with AUM $65bn.

Despite playing such a minor role in China investment portfolios, Materials allocations have been on the rise.  Current holding weights represent an 8-year high and the percentage of funds invested is at the top of the 6 year range.  Activity over the last 6-months shows some of the pure metal plays gaining tracking with China investors.  A further 11.2% of funds added Steel exposure over the period and 10.3% Aluminum.  In contrast, Construction Materials suffered outflows and a scaling back of exposure from active managers.We would highlight stocks such as Beijing Oriental Yuhong A (002271 CH) , Wanhua Chemical Group Co A (600309 CH) , Shandong Sinocera Functional Material (300285 CH) , China Molybdenum Co Ltd H (3993 HK) and Baoshan Iron &amp; Steel Co A (600019 CH) as seeing investment levels rise from a very low base, having previously being off the radar for the majority of active China investors.Relative to 5-year history, allocations are now looking overstretched, but relative to 10 year history, allocations still have some way to go, and absolute weights are still tiny compared to the large allocations awarded to Consumer and Communication Services stocks.  In short, are the recent moves part of a short-term shift in momentum, or the early part of a longer-term structural shift?Taken from our active China fund universe, consisting of 116 funds with AUM $65bn.

China National Building Material (3323 HK)

Shandong Sinocera Functional Material (300285 CH)

China Materials: Exposure on the Rise