Funds Centre

First State Latin America - new fund launch

Over the last 20 years, Latin America has undergone an enormous amount of change both economically and politically. The governments have significantly improved their economies and political reform is leading to greater opportunities for consumers

as well as companies in many of the regions. First State therefore aims to capture these growth opportunities with the recent launch of their Latin America Fund.The lead manager of the fund is Jonathan Asante who is also co-manager of the First State Global Emerging Market Leaders Fund. While this is a new fund, the team in not new to investing in the region as they have exposure to Latin America in their broader emerging market portfolios. The new fund will adopt the same investment approach with a focus on high quality companies with sustainable growth characteristics.The fund can invest in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru although it can also invest in other markets if opportunities arise. One of the attractions of investing in Latin American companies is that many of them have shown a real commitment towards shareholders as well as ensuring their businesses are well managed and aim to have a high level of accounting standards.Additionally, the region benefits from positive demographics with young and growing populations. For example, in Brazil, 62% of the population is under the age of 29 which means it is not suffering the burden of a growing elderly population unlike many countries in the developed world. This also means that countries like Brazil and Mexico are set to benefit from a growing consumer sector.Latin America has the potential to offer high levels of economic and corporate growth. While significant progress has been made to stabilise the region over the last two decades, it should continue to be considered a higher risk and volatile region and investors should bear this in mind when investing.Please note this fund is not currently on the Wealth 150 list of our favourite funds in each sector.Meera Patel, Senior Analyst> Key Features of the First State Latin American Fund