The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relative to wealth advisors and their clients.

Chikara Investments
UK-based Japan, India and emerging market investment specialist, Chikara Investments, has just launched the Chikara India Equity Fund for US investors, which will be managed by Abhinav Mehra and Andrew Draycott.

Launched with initial funding from a diverse group of family offices in the US, the fund is designed to mirror the strategy of the company’s existing India equity UCITS fund, the Chikara Indian Subcontinent Fund, which has grown in assets under management to over $100 million this year.

The new Chikara India Equity Fund is a Cayman-domiciled, monthly-dealing, long-only equity fund, the firm said in a statement. It has no performance fee, does not trade derivatives as part of its strategy and applies an annual management charge of between 50 and 100 basis points. The portfolio will hold approximately 25 to 30 stocks, with the fund managers selecting high-growth and quality companies, positioned to benefit from India’s impressive domestic growth, the firm continued. The fund’s investment approach is high conviction, index-agnostic, with a concentrated focus on companies benefiting from India’s domestic prospects.

The India growth story is well-documented, the demographic trends well known; India’s age dependency is significantly lower than the world average, and its GDP looks set to double to more than $7.5 trillion by 2030. This will make India the third largest economy behind China and the US, the firm added. See more commentary here about India.

“In launching this fund, we have responded to clear interest and demand from US investors. They have plenty of exposure to global and US growth in their portfolios already, not least the magnificent seven, but this fund tapping into India’s under-penetrated, domestic-focused, high-growth story provides something different,” James Tollemache, chief executive of Chikara Investments, said.