Specialists in Asia and Global Emerging Markets

An autonomous team within the First Sentier Investors Group, we are bottom-up investors, using fundamental research and analysis to construct high-conviction portfolios.

Who we are

Why Asia and Emerging Markets?

The fastest growth and some of the highest level of innovation is happening in Asian and Emerging Market economies. 

With this progress comes a burgeoning middle class with a propensity to consume and levels of company formation reminiscent of the US in the early 20th century.

But it’s also a complex market, requiring deep insight, local knowledge and a questioning, sometimes contrarian perspective to ensure opportunities are interrogated with a view to long-term success. 

It’s that different perspective that gives FSSA Investment Managers an edge.

Our high-conviction strategies

Our Greater China strategies cover China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, with single country and regional portfolios. Though China provides the largest opportunity set in the region, Taiwan, with its large technology sector, and Hong Kong, with its more developed governance and regulatory framework, offer a number of interesting investment opportunities. Our China A-Share strategy is invested in domestic market leaders and globally competitive Chinese companies. 

Our range of Asia Pacific strategies cover small, mid and large-cap companies. The portfolios are invested in quality companies that we believe have long-term, sustainable growth drivers and should benefit from Asia’s structural tailwinds. 

Our Indian Subcontinent strategies cover India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We tend to favour dominant consumer franchises, high quality private banks and infrastructure companies. We believe large populations, supportive demographics and underpenetrated markets in this region should provide a favourable long-term growth environment for these types of companies. 

Our Global Emerging Markets strategies cover developing and frontier markets companies and are biased towards mid-cap companies that have the potential to grow much larger over time. We tend to favour dominant franchises operating in industries with long-term structural tailwinds. 

Our Japan strategies are focused on secular growth trends which decouple from the macro-economic environment. These include well-managed Japanese companies that have global brand recognition, domestic leaders that have grown over multiple cycles, and automation companies that have benefitted from structural demand growth. 

Why FSSA Investment Managers?

At FSSA Investment Managers we believe that to consider the future, you need to understand the past. We believe that preserving capital is the most important aspect of growing it. And we believe that looking at things differently is more important than looking at things too closely. With this distinct perspective, we look to invest in good people running good businesses who can deliver sustainable, long term growth. 

1988 team established

Our history reflects our long-term approach; we look for quality companies that we can buy and hold over time.

Absolute return mind-set

Our investment approach focuses on generating absolute returns for our clients. With every investment we make, we look at the potential downside and not just upside.

20+ investment professionals

Our team of specialists conduct fundamental analysis to find quality companies at sensible prices.

ESG fully integrated

Environmental, social and governance as an analysis is fully integrated into our investment process since the team’s establishment.

Our latest thinking

After China reopened at the end of 2022, the market’s optimism soon faded and turned into disappointment. But despite the various macro concerns, the picture is more mixed from our perspective. Some segments posted decent recoveries which were often overlooked amid the pessimism.
  • Article
  • 8 mins
We often hear this comment from prospective clients who are considering an investment in the FSSA Indian Subcontinent strategy, but are not yet convinced that a dedicated allocation would indeed be worth it. Call us biased, but we have been arguing in favour of a standalone investment in India for many years.
  • Article
  • 3 mins
The year 2023 turned out to be fairly pedestrian in terms of emerging markets’ performance. The asset class was weighed down by China, which recorded its third consecutive year of negative returns.
  • Article
  • 8 mins