Amendment to Fund Project of Emerging Markets Equity Fund (KF-EM)

10 May 2022
Krungsri Asset Management Company Limited (“the Management Company”) has been the manager of Krungsri Emerging Markets Equity Fund (KF-EM) (“the Fund”), which have the policy to invest in Vontobel Fund - Emerging Markets Equity, class Accumulation shares I USD (“the Master Fund”) since inception.
           
The Management Company has pursued the monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the Master Fund for a certain period of time and found that the Master Fund did not generate satisfactory investment returns compared to other funds. By virtue of Clause 3.11 of the Mutual Fund Project regarding "Details of the Investment Policy and the Special Characteristics of the Fund", the Management Company reserves the right to change the Master Fund to any other foreign fund, which may or may not be the fund under management of the existing foreign fund management company in case that investing in the current Master Fund is no longer appropriate.

Accordingly, to ensure best interests of the investors, the Management Company proceeds to amend the mutual fund project and an approval has been granted by the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“the SEC Office”).  The Master Fund of the Fund will be changed to Morgan Stanley Investment Funds - Emerging Leaders Equity Fund, Class Z, a foreign fund with similar investment policy and objective, which has been established since 17 August 2012. The new Master Fund is managed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management (Ireland) Limited and incorporated in Luxembourg with USD 1.2 Billion worth of assets under management as of 31 March 2022. The important amendments to the mutual fund project are summarized in the attached table.

The amendments to the mutual fund project as mentioned above shall be effective from 18 May 2022 onwards.
           
Summary of the major amendments to the mutual fund project pursuant to changes of investment in the Master Fund
Old New
1. Name of Master Fund
Vontobel Fund - Emerging Markets Equity,
class Accumulation shares I USD
Morgan Stanley Investment Funds - Emerging Leaders Equity Fund, Class Z
2. Name of Management Company
Vontobel Management S.A., Luxembourg Morgan Stanley Investment Management (Ireland) Limited
3. Investment Objective and Policy of Master Fund
The Fund aims to achieve the highest possible capital growth in USD.
While respecting the principle of risk diversification, the Fund's assets are invested mainly in equities, equity-like transferable securities, participation certificates, etc. issued by companies which are based in an emerging market and/or conduct the majority of their business in an emerging market.
Emerging markets in connection with this Fund are all countries considered as such by the World Bank, the Interna-tional Finance Corporation or the United Nations or that are included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index or the MSCI Frontier Markets (FM) Index. Irrespective of recognition by one of the abovementioned institutions, emerging markets also include: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Hong Kong, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Egypt, the Czech Republic, Romania, Israel.
The Fund may invest up to 35% of its assets via Shang-hai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect in China A-Shares.
Up to 33% of the Fund's assets may be invested outside the aforementioned investment universe. The Fund may also hold cash.
This Fund pursues a "quality growth" investment style aimed at the preservation of capital, and invests primarily in securities of companies that have relatively high long-term earnings growth and above-average profitability. Bearing in mind the applicable investment restrictions, this investment style may lead to more heavily concentrated positions in indi-vidual companies or sectors.
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long term capital appreciation, measured in US Dollars, through investment primarily in a concentrated portfolio of equity securities, including American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) and China A-Shares via Stock Connect, in emerging and frontier countries. In targeting its investment objective, the Investment Adviser will invest in companies with strong performance and best-in-class practices relative to their peers on one or more ESG metrics.
A country may be considered emerging or frontier based on classification in the MSCI Emerging Markets Net Index (the “EML Benchmark”) or similar classification by an organization such as the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations or the World Bank, provided that the markets of these countries are considered to be recognised exchanges (“Recognised Exchanges”) within the meaning of Article 41(1) of the 2010 Law.
On an ancillary basis the Fund may invest in cash, debt securities convertible into common shares, preference shares, warrants and other equity linked instruments and, for the purpose of efficient portfolio management (including hedging), exchange traded and over-the-counter options, futures and other derivatives.
The Fund may invest in the equity securities (including ADRs and GDRs) of companies organised and located in countries other than an emerging or frontier market where the value of the company’s securities will reflect principally conditions in an emerging or frontier country, or where the principal securities trading market for the company is in an emerging or frontier country, or where 35% of the company’s revenue, sales, assets, EBITDA or profit before tax is derived from either goods produced, sales made or services performed in emerging or frontier countries. The Fund may invest in participatory notes that may be used to gain exposure to securities and markets which may not be efficiently accessed through direct investment. Exposure to participatory notes will not exceed 45% of the actually invested assets (gross assets after deducting cash and cash equivalents). The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in China A-Shares via Stock Connect.
The Fund will limit the use of derivatives to efficient portfolio management and for hedging purposes only.

In addition, the change of investment in the Master Fund has resulted in shortening the payment period of redemption proceeds from 5 working days after the execution day excluding relevant Master Fund's holidays (T+5) previously to 4 working days after the execution day excluding relevant Master Fund's holidays (T+4), which will also take effect from 18 May 2022 onwards.

Should you require any further information, please contact your account manager or our Client Service at 02-657-5757 press 7 for English and 2 or via email at krungsriasset.clientservice@krungsri.com.

Please be informed accordingly.
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