Barings: Breadth of expertise shining through

Baring Asset Management has expertise across a wide variety of investment markets. The quality of the individual fund managers, underpinned by a soundly structured investment approach, makes Forsyth confident in recommending them as a group to watch.

Barings' portfolio construction discipline is to build 'risk efficient' portfolios - those with the highest level of expected return for a given amount of risk. The group uses proprietary quantitative screens to identify investments with favourable growth, value and technical characteristics. A team of 100 analysts is engaged in fundamental research - extensive country and company visits, combined with in-depth investment analysis.

The group has a breadth of expertise across markets and sectors matched by few managers. Forsyth currently rates 14 of its offshore funds. In particular, we expect good things of the Baring World Opportunities fund for 2000.

This will represent the best ideas of the two named managers, Mark Latham and Bill Braman, chief investment officer at Barings, and will aim for long-term capital growth at lower than global equity market risk.

The investment process will combine growth and value disciplines and permits the use of put options to protect the vehicle from any event risk. It will be driven by thematic trends and this will permit the managers to exercise judgement about both asset and sector allocation.

At a stock level, it will be increasingly important to identify the potential winners of change. The fund is therefore heavily weighted in a combination of resource and technology based stocks.

This year could be Australia's year, according to John Payne, manager of the Baring Australia fund. Tax reform at a macroeconomic level has resulted in a more market-oriented economy, which is increasingly recognising the importance of private enterprise within the macroeconomic structure.

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