Manulife Investments announced today the launch of the Manulife Shariah Dynamic Leaders Fund, the firm’s first Shariah-compliant global equity fund in Malaysia. The Fund focuses on investing in the world’s industry-leading companies that can generate consistent quality growth, aiming to help investors capture potential equity market upside and strong risk-adjusted returns.
Through an actively managed strategy, the Manulife Shariah Dynamic Leaders Fund seeks current and future industry leaders in their respective sectors amid a dynamic business and economic environment. It targets companies with strong brand recognition, attractive growth profiles, and the ability to deliver consistent margins and profitability – traits that support long-term capital appreciation with appropriate levels of risk.
This active approach is essential in selecting the 40 to 60 large-cap companies for the portfolio, while aligning with Shariah principles of investing. The Fund also combines top-down macro views, bottom-up insights, and in-depth risk and factor positioning to manage market weakness.
Jason Chong, chief executive officer of Manulife Investments, Malaysia, said, “At Manulife Investments, we are committed to bringing the most appropriate solutions that can help investors in Malaysia achieve their long-term financial goals, while also addressing their investment preferences.
“As markets continue to evolve, building a portfolio that seeks to participate in market upside while managing downside risk has become increasingly important. This fund is designed to identify resilient companies with strong fundamentals and sustainable growth drivers, guided by the disciplined approach of our experienced investment team.”
Jason added, “The Fund’s unconstrained approach aims to maximise returns across varying market cycles by dynamically allocating into secular, cyclical, and stable growth companies. The selection of companies will also be determined by the continuous evaluation of the effectiveness of the portfolio in turning risk into reward. As such, we believe the fund could potentially deliver consistent and better investment outcomes for investors in Malaysia.”
The Manulife Shariah Dynamic Leaders Fund strives to achieve greater capital growth by investing at least 80 per cent of its net assets in a concentrated portfolio of equity and equity related securities of large capitalisation companies (i.e., companies with a minimum market capitalisation of USD10 billion) listed globally (including in emerging markets from time to time), including, but not limited to, common stocks and depositary receipts.
Source: Manulife Investment Management (M) Berhad (Press Release)