Doric Capital's Asia small-cap fund up 1.7 pct in October-letter

Xinyi Solar Holdings

17/11/2015 08:37

LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Asia-focused hedge fund firm 
Doric Capital's flagship $206 million small-cap fund rose 1.7 
percent in October, an investor letter seen by Reuters showed. 
    That gave the fund, which targets Asia's 'emerging 
blue-chips', a return of 5.6 percent for the year to 
end-October, against a broader MSCI Asia ex-Japan index, which 
rose 7.9 percent in October but is down 7.5 percent 
year-to-date. 
    Long positions in China, India and Korea contributed most of 
the positive performance, the investor letter said, thanks to 
gains for companies including Xinyi Solar  0968.HK  and Gujarat 
State Petronet  GSPT.NS . 
    "We believe the underlying economy in China remains slow but 
stable, the Indian economy continues to improve gradually and 
South East Asia is stabilising ... We are closely monitoring for 
signs of improvement both in the real economy and financial 
markets to add to some of our best ideas," it said. 
    October's gains compare with an average monthly return of 
0.67 percent for funds investing in Asia, excluding Japan, data 
from Eurekahedge showed. 
    Launched in 2004 and run out of Hong Kong by Howard Wong and 
Rajesh Ranganathan, the fund aims to buy stakes in companies 
which can grow 20 percent a year and provide a 20 percent return 
on equity. It has returned 74 percent over the past five years. 
    Among its core bets on a falling share price, were firms 
facing structural challenges due to the changing economic 
situation in China, it said, without naming any. 
    The gains for its small-cap fund come after Doric chose to 
close its Doric Focus Fund in 2012, after losing 28 percent 
during 2011. At that time, the small-cap fund had $42 million in 
assets, a spokesman for Doric said.    
 
 (Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Mark Potter) 
 ((simon.jessop@thomsonreuters.com; +44)(0)(207 542 5052; 
Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging: 
simon.jessop.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: HEDGEFUNDS PERFORMANCE/DORIC