When emerging markets fell out of bed last year, Asia was hit particularly hard. But one group, Matthews International Capital Management, which manages $9.9bn in growth-oriented Asian equity funds, rose above the fray, delivering excellent returns relative to its peers – on the way down last year, and on the way back up this year as well.
Mark Headley, the American chairman of Matthews, attributes the group’s outperformance to the fact that it does not employ anyone on the ground in Asia. Founded in 1991, the firm has only one office – in San Francisco, where all 26 analysts and portfolio managers work.
