APN Asian REIT Fund Management Fees Cut by 50%. Why?

12th April 2016, APN Property

Usually a fund manager only slashes management fees to pacify investors suffering poor returns. Should our decision to cut APN’s Asian REIT Fund management fees in half for all current investors, and new ones applying before the end of the financial year, therefore be a concern?

Absolutely not. Currently delivering an attractive distribution yield of more than 6%, to date the APN Asian REIT Fund (‘Fund’) has delivered a total return of 17.63% per annum since it was launched in 2011*. So why are we reducing the management fee and changing dividend payments to monthly rather than quarterly?

Well, given that performance, this Fund should be more popular with investors than it is. That though, is not the only reason. In our view, many income investors disregard Asian investment opportunities at their cost. We hope cutting our management fee will help investors wary of Asian exposure to think more deeply about how their income-based portfolios might benefit from careful exposure to developed, rather than developing, Asia.

That distinction is important. When investors hear the word ‘Europe’ they think of London, Paris and Berlin, rich cultures that symbolise how we think of Western civilisation, with its democratic origins, political stability and separation of powers. Asia provokes a different reaction. Instead of mental images of creative, dynamic economic hubs like Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong, we ruminate on political despotism in places like China and army rule in Thailand, on their weak property rights and unpredictable legal systems.

Investing in Asia can mean many things, but for APN’s Asian REIT Fund it means exposure to high quality commercial property investments in Asia’s most globalised cities – Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

To download the APN Asian REIT Fact Flyer April 2016 and the APN Asian REIT Fund, please click on the links below.