About us

Specialists in Asia and Global Emerging Markets

We are a specialist asset manager with a different perspective.

Operating as an autonomous investment team within First Sentier Investors group, we are a team of dedicated investment professionals based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Bottom-up stock pickers

We are bottom-up investors, using fundamental research and analysis to construct high-conviction portfolios. We conduct more than a thousand direct company meetings a year, seeking to identify high quality companies that we can invest in for the long term.

Quality focused

We seek to invest in quality companies, as defined by the strength of their management, franchise and financials. Poor quality businesses do not form a part of our investment universe, no matter how attractive the growth opportunity or valuation becomes.

Responsible investors

As responsible, long-term shareholders, we have integrated ESG analysis into our investment process and engage extensively on environmental, labour and governance issues. We support social impact initiatives across Asia through the strategic philanthropic work of Manan Trust.

Our history

FSSA Investment Managers was formerly a part of First State Stewart, the Asia Pacific team of Stewart Ivory & Company Limited. After years of organic growth, in July 2015 the First State Stewart team split in two: FSSA Investment Managers and Stewart Investors.

  • 1988

    Launch of Stewart Ivory’s Asia Pacific capability and strategy

  • 1992

    Launch of China Growth and Global Emerging Markets capabilities

  • 1994

    Launch of the Indian Subcontinent strategy

  • 2000

    Stewart Ivory was acquired by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The overseas fund management businesses were merged to form First State Investments (FSI)

  • 2002

    Launch of Greater China Growth strategy

  • 2009

    Launch of China A strategy

  • 2012

    Team rebranded as First State Stewart

  • 2015

    In July, First State Stewart split into two businesses: First State Stewart Asia (FSSA) and Stewart Investors

  • 2015

    Launch of Japan strategy

  • 2017

    Launch of Global Emerging Markets strategy

  • 2019

    First State Stewart Asia rebranded to FSSA Investment Managers

  • 2020

    First State Investments rebranded to First Sentier Investors, under new owners Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. FSSA Investment Managers remains an autonomous investment team within the group

A proud history

As responsible, long-term investors, our purpose has remained unchanged throughout our long and proud history.

Investment insights

High-quality companies hiding in small market capitalisations

In our last update, we touched on the idea of high-quality companies hiding in small market capitalisations in ASEAN . This, in our view, is due to years of declining foreign-investor interest in the region. These companies are usually not covered in great detail or indeed at all by sell-side research analysts.
  • Article
  • 9 mins

Addressing recent investor concerns on China

In response to the recent client interest around China’s market and the challenging performance year-to-date, we had a conversation with Martin Lau, managing partner and lead portfolio manager for the FSSA Asian Equity Plus and FSSA China Growth strategies.
  • Article
  • 12 mins

View all the insights