A field day for the sceptics. Anthony Bolton, a star UK fund manager with a sparkling 28-year track record, moved to Hong Kong in 2010 to launch a China fund, despite not speaking the language and having little experience in the country. On Monday he announced his retirement again. His investment trust (Fidelity China Special Situations) is down 15 per cent since launch, slightly underperforming the MSCI China index. In an effort to close the 11 per cent discount to net asset value, it has been buying back shares. It has also cut the annual management fee by 30 basis points to 1.2 per cent.
Is it too early to write off Mr Bolton’s legacy in China? Was it the timing or the strategy that was wrong? There is plenty of evidence for the former. The MSCI China hit a post-crisis peak shortly after the fund launched. As the market has declined, Mr Bolton’s focus on small and medium-sized businesses (half of the portfolio is in companies worth less than £1bn) has worked against him, as has his fund’s gearing.
But Mr Bolton’s approach carries inherent risks, whatever the market conditions. A survey last year by investment bank CLSA put China as number nine in its ranking of corporate governance in Asia and noted that governance had worsened since its previous survey in 2010. It also noted that governance at small-cap companies in Asia tends to be worse than at large caps.