Invesco unveils China healthcare equity Sicav fund

Invesco has launched the China Healthcare Equity Fund, a Ucits-compliant Sicav aimed at capturing the opportunities in the country's expanding healthcare sector fuelled by "robust growth" in spending.

Hong Kong-based senior fund manager Chris Liu will invest primarily in Chinese healthcare companies mainly listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchanges and traded via Stock Connect, holding between 30 and 40 stocks in the portfolio.

Invesco said the fund's growth-orientated strategy will see the manager focus on healthcare mid-cap stocks, investing in Chinese companies with "sustainable growth potential" that fall into five healthcare subsectors, including medical devices, contract research organisations/contract development and manufacturing organisations, drug manufacturers, medical services and vaccine producers. 

It has identified that these subsectors will benefit from key growth trends in China, such as pre-immunisation, technology advancement and reform.

Chin Ping Chia, head of China A investments, business strategy and development at Invesco, said: "The China healthcare sector has strong potential to expand due to robust growth in healthcare spending underpinned by a rise in wealth and an ageing population, making healthcare a hugely important sector for China's society and economy.

"An active approach to investing in the healthcare market will allow us to capture such opportunities."

Invesco Great Wall, its Sino-American fund management joint venture launched in 2003, will support Liu in managing the new fund by providing a non-binding sub-advisory service.

"By launching this fund we are able to bring our local healthcare expertise to the global market and offer wider investment opportunities to our clients," added Andrew Lo, head of Asia Pacific at Invesco.

"As China's RMB 6.8trn healthcare industry continues to expand, we foresee rising interest from global investors which makes the need for a China A-Shares healthcare fund greater than ever."

An OCF of 1.15% applies to the Z share class.

First published by our sister title Investment Week