UBS Global to grow managed assets in Asia-Pac to $6b

SWISS fund manager UBS Global Asset Management (Singapore) wants to expand its assets under management for the Asia-Pacific region - excluding Japan and China - to US$4 billion (S$6.1 billion) over the next three years.

Out of this, about US$1 billion is expected to be generated from Singapore, up from the US$150 million that it currently manages.

To do so, UBS will be launching more funds this year to retail and sophisticated investors via third parties such as banks and financial advisory firms.

To kick-start the push, it launched UBS Absolute Return Plus fund yesterday - after a hiatus of seven years during which no new retail funds were launched.

Helming the outfit is Mr Colin Woods, who is head of third party wholesale Asia, excluding Japan and China. He moved to Singapore from Australia six weeks ago.

Mr Woods said the new fund addresses investor concerns of market timing by aiming to generate 'consistent, positive returns' within a market cycle of three to five years.

The fund seeks to achieve a performance objective of three- month money market plus 4 per cent a year.

Currently, the three-month money market rate is about 3.5 per cent a year.

According to UBS, the new fund is suitable as a core holding in a portfolio.

It will sell futures contracts to reduce the fund's market exposure, which helps to reduce the impact of market volatility.

The fund will be distributed via two banks and details will be announced next week.

The minimum investment amount is $1,000 and the total annual fee is 1.92 per cent a year.