Mr. Chan: At Barings my group manages two listed, closed-end funds in the U.S. One is the Greater China Fund, Inc., and the other one is Asia Pacific Fund, Inc. Both funds focus on investment in Asia, with the Greater China Fund focused very much on the greater China market. We focus primarily on shares listed in Hong Kong, which represent both Hong Kong companies as well as Chinese companies, and also companies providing exposure to China. Taking a broader scope, the Asia Pacific Fund invests in all the Asia ex-Japan markets. And our philosophy is basically growth at a reasonable price, so we look for growth that is not fully appreciated by the market.
TWST: Let's talk about the Greater China Fund. How would you distinguish the Greater China Fund from other funds that invest in China?
Mr. Chan: We take a very stock-specific approach. We have people based in Hong Kong who visit China on a regular basis, and our focus is very much on the bottom-up opportunities. We conduct more than 500 company meetings a year, and we view that as an important thing to really understand the business and keep updating with the companies about their business prospects. I think one thing that probably distinguishes us from the other funds, and the major reason for our long-term track record, is that we have always been willing to move outside of the mainstream names - we don't try to stick to a lot of a benchmark names. We keep looking for new ideas, ideas that are not fully appreciated by the market. So in fact, historically a lot of the stocks that we own or we bought were non-mainstream names, but over time they became major benchmark constituent stocks or household names in the market. So I think the more distinguishing factor is probably an approach that is focused on the opportunities that are up and running, and are not being too much appreciated by the market.
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